Krait Book 02 Surfeit of Malfoys
by slytherinsal
Summary: book 2 in the Krait lotsology; rated for violence.  As if trouble from the likes of Umbridge weren't enough, there are wizarding Nazis abroad too...
1. Chapter 1

**This is book two in the tales of Krait; if you missed Slytherin's Heiress you may wish to read it first; if so SPOILER ALERT OF PREQUEL be aware that OC Krait of Malfoy descent and daughter of Tom Marvolo Riddle has forged some friendships between unlikely people and set out to bring down her father in collaboration – rather a CLOSE collaboration – with Severus. The group have used blood magic to set up a layer of protection about Harry which has already had a few useful side effects. The group first included Severus, Sirius, Harry, Krait, Neville, Draco, Ginny and some OCs.**

_**The whole European thing is to set up future forays into European politics as affected by Gellert Grindelwald; it seemed reasonable to suppose that Voldemort had foreign followers other than Karkaroff and Dolokhov. I'm not French bashing or German bashing I'm wizarding Nazi bashing. **_

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can you let me know if there are random changes to give one character name to all; it's a problem I'm wrestling with in my Word For Windows which is old and rather er individualistic**

_**As always JKR owns the characters; I'm only borrowing them. This one too parallels canon with a few departures. Well actually quite a few departures; so there are more forays into the lives of others in the school as Harry Potter does not get to be quite so overwhelmed by shit happening. I think it's the weakest of the trilogy…er quatrology er…lotsology but there were things I needed to say and some inbetweening. BTB the definition of any number of Malfoys more than one is a surfeit.**_

**Chapter 1 French Connection**

The thin menacing voice of Lord Voldemort issued its orders.

"You are to go to Chateau Malvaison in France, my daughter – Severus can side-along apparate you. The Comte de Malvaison and his wife are supporters of mine, and they are hosting a conference with one Freiherr von Strang who represents pure blood supremacists in Germany and Eastern Europe. I want you to be my representative at these talks and assess von Strang for me. I would prefer to rule than ally but as Dumbledore is aware that I am not dead…"

"What can Dumbledore do?" Krait shrugged. "The ministry did not see fit to believe Bartemius Crouch's testimony, thought him insane….Dumbledore is only one man, and how can he know that we also managed to restore you? He thinks your plan foiled, my Lord."

"Never underestimate Dumbledore!" snapped the white faced would-be dictator. "He will suspect I have found another way….it is fortunate that Fudge is afraid that Dumbledore is after his job as Prime Minister, Wormtail has been getting me the Daily Prophet and it is amusing to see how they ridicule Dumbledore and question Harry Potter's sanity!"

"Yes, being marginalised will help me maintain a hold on the boy" said Krait calmly.

"You do not think you are pregnant yet by him?"

She shrugged again.

"It's not a done deal even if I am….any number of things can go wrong, and of course with your instructions about me taking lessons, any child might be Severus'…"

"Didn't you take potions to prevent that?" he snapped. "Severus brews very competent potions, surely he made you a contraceptive?"

"I couldn't take a contraceptive!" said Krait looking shocked. "It's forbidden!"

The pallid megalomaniac ground his teeth.

"WILL you forget that Catholic upbringing?" he almost screeched at her. Krait recoiled.

"I am sorry, my father" she cringed suitably "It – it is akin to brainwashing….I have shaken off most, sometimes I just react as I was trained…I was reacting emotionally because it was a big step to take to….to learn seduction…I confess my apprehension when I was doing your bidding in that….but there will be no great harm, for both have similar colouring, so I can convince Potter that any child is his and take the opportunity to conceive again if all plans have gone awry in that respect. Anyway, it should be all right, shouldn't it? You can't conceive with the first time, and I was with Potter soon after…" she added mendaciously.

"The gaps in your education sometimes astound me beyond measure" the repellent scaly face of her father thrust close to the wall of the communication globe. "However, you can have Severus perform Scarpin's revelaspell on the foetus and get rid of it if it's not Potter's."

Krait gulped.

"As you order, father" she said.

He smiled unpleasantly.

"You are an obedient girl" he said. "I am sure you will represent me admirably in France. I trust Severus made sure you enjoyed your lessons? I would not like him to feel that he has too much power over you."

"He's no fool…. He made sure I took pleasure, it makes me more efficient for one thing, knowing how to enjoy it; as to feeling any power, why I have absolute control over him by letting him feel he has some of the ordering of me…..it's most amusing!" she grinned nastily.

The horrible thin gurgling noise showed that her father laughed in amusement.

"Good…..use all your abilities to control. He is a loyal servant, and I will doubtless have to order him soon to use the trust that Dumbledore places in him to spy on the Order of the Phoenix, for the old fool is bound to start it up again….to feel he has a reward in you will keep Severus from resentment."

"He's skilled enough…I don't object, so long as I have my freedom to other lovers….why, I'd even consider being faithful to him for his lifetime if I knew I had the secret of immortality from you." She tossed her pale oriole of hair. _Might as well try_ she thought.

"I have said I will think about it….you will have to get over being squeamish about things though. You dealt fairly ruthlessly with the Greengrasse girl but you stopped short of killing her….is that your Catholic upbringing?"

"I told you at the time, I thought it could only bring investigation on my head…you won't find me lacking." She said.

"I hope not. Report in full about how it goes in France. And be sure only to say that your Mother was a Malfoy – NO mention of any muggle blood. Is that clear?"

"Pellucidly" said Krait, borrowing from Severus' favourite expressions.

"Good" The globe flickered and went dead. Krait shut the door of the communications cupboard very carefully behind her before she flung herself into Severus' arms. He stroked her hair.

"Be assured he is well pleased with you and it pleases himself to be more amused at your supposed naïveté than otherwise; else he had punished you. The attempt to get his secret was good, love."

"Didn't work, though."

"No – but he is a stage further to consider giving it" he reassured her. "Dumbledore mentioned the word Horcrux – and he is trying to find out more."

"There's something Albus Dumbledore doesn't know?" she was surprised.

"It's Dark magic….he suspects that Horace Slughorn, the previous Potion master knows, but getting him to talk about anything he doesn't want to is like nailing water to a board" said Severus disgustedly. "He changes his manner according to the importance of the person he's talking to, he had favourites at Hogwarts according to what favours they could do him…not a thing to do with their ability. Charming Tom Riddle was almost certainly a blue eyed boy of his, expected to have a bright future, head boy, loved almost universally….except by Albus, who is nobody's fool….chances are, if Slughorn had acquired knowledge of Horcruxes – Horcruces I should say – he passed them on to the Smarmy Charmer."

"Why Severus!" she twinkled at him "I do believe you've been infected by my own idiom!"

He gave a grim smile.

"Sometimes your abominable slang is more appropriately descriptive than my own sesquipedalian phraseology. I'd better take you briefly into France and Germany and show you how to transfer a complete understanding of grammar and vocabulary from the mind of a native muggle speaker. And how to learn how to pick one with the education that will not mark you out as a peasant farmer. It's not perfect but you can build on it by use."

-/-/-/-

The Chateau Malvaison was large and pretentious with fancy turrets growing randomly from its solid medieval basis, rather like, Krait thought whimsically, an eruption of Rococo toadstools. Inside was even grander, all white marble and gilded curlicues that segued from the Baroque to Rococo in an obscene writhing of voluptuous superfluity of abundance. Into this opulent affront upon the senses they were admitted by the diminutive figure of a house elf, wrapped in what appeared to be a pillow slip, somehow arranged to give him the air of being one of the overstuffed putti somehow emaciated in an effort to achieve animation. He took their baggage with a whisk of elven magic and Krait smiled and said,

"Thank you."

The elf froze, and stared.

"Nobody has ever THANKED Beloc before!" he said in awe.

"Then the people with whom your master consorts are ill-mannered swine" said Krait indignantly. "Any decent person…." She broke off, for the elf was banging his head on the floor.

"He is punishing himself because he has thought bad thoughts about his master" said Severus softly. "Because he compared your manners to his…."

"Oh stop it! Please!" Krait cried, distressed. "Hermione is so right….and so wrong too, for I can't see how to stop this….."

"Don't talk about it to him….you'll only make his situation worse" said Severus grimly. "Elf, I pray you, show us to our rooms, if you please."

"Beloc is sorry to delay noble visitors" the elf said, swallowing hard. "Beloc will punish himself later."

"I wish you didn't punish yourself at all" said Krait "But I suppose it's no good me saying that."

"No, mistress, I am obliged to" said Beloc, mournfully. "This way!"

-/-

The rooms were spacious and ornate and reminded Krait of all she had read about the Palace of Versailles. There were huge mirrors everywhere which Krait regarded thoughtfully.

_**"What's the betting some of the mirrors if not all are scrying devices?" **_ she asked Severus on the unique mental link they had forged when they had performed a deep joining ritual.

"_**I never bet on certainties….assume they all are. It's paranoid, but…"**_

_** "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."**_

_** "Quite!" **_he agreed dryly.

-/-

M. le Comte was a florid person, very obviously well pleased with himself and the ornate robes that he wore. They were of a floral brocade in a rich purple that did nothing for his complexion though Krait thought ironically the colour would have suited her well enough. Krait thought him overdressed, though not so much as his wife, whose sour acidulated face rose incongruously from layers of ruffles and lace in a gown of such outstanding complexity that Krait, able needlewoman that she was, found difficulty working out the pattern to it. Krait's own tastes ran to the austere, not to say severe; she was dressed in a closely cut robe of black velvet, cut on the bias for the enhancement of the line, an extravagance she would never have considered without Lucius Malfoy's generous allowance. Any more than would she have considered the real silver thread of the subtle and intricate trim she had couched around neck, sleeves and hem. As it was, she knew she had to look impressive since she was supposed to be representing her father, who considered himself the pre-eminent wizard in the world; and she had to play that part to perfection. And Krait, whilst deploring profligacy, was woman as much as any; and liked pretty things. Severus thought her the most beautiful woman in the world, but one had to hold to the fact that he was somewhat biased in that respect. The Comte was however properly impressed and kissed her hand with a flourish, holding it longer than was necessary and failing to introduce her to the other male in the room, enough like Madame la Comtesse to be some relation.

"Mademoiselle – we are enchanted to make your acquaintance and to entertain the flower of English womanhood!" he declared extravagantly. Krait pursed her lips.

"I am delighted to be here to act for my father" she said crisply "But I am here on business not to waste time on excess hyperbole." Her tone was chilly. "My father expects me to act in his stead and as such, let us set the tone before we begin. You lend your premises for a meeting you desire; I speak for my father at that same meeting. You perform a service for us; we are duly pleased by your loyalty. I trust I make myself quite clear?"

the Comte was taken aback. His spouse was uncertain whether to be pleased that the pretty chit had not responded to his flirtatious tone or to be irritated that Krait obviously felt herself to be in charge; but the Comte bowed urbanely.

"As the Dark Lord wishes" he said smoothly.

Krait looked down her little nose.

"Naturally" she said.

-/-

"What are you playing at?" Severus asked her quietly as the Comte showed them over his rambling chateau.

"He irritated me…besides, divide and conquer….if he's pissed at me he's easier to push into a quarrel with this Von Strang character."

"Be careful…."

"I am…. Sometimes taking outrageous chances is more careful than being overly cautious and hence drawing suspicion for one's vacillating timidity."

"Well…. You have remarkable instincts my dear: and I trust them implicitly."

-/-

Freiherr Von Strang, when he arrived, had no courtesies for the waiting house elf but thrust his cloak at him impatiently, expecting to have his baggage dealt with expeditiously.

Krait frowned to herself.

"Politeness is the prerogative of princes" she muttered.

"I think you'll find Machiavelli said that punctuality was the politeness of princes" murmured Severus.

"But he considered politeness a virtue…..and discourtesy displeased him. He'd have made the quote if he'd thought of it." She said airily. Severus chuckled.

"Minx, if you'd known him, you'd have told him to…."

"By all accounts, if I'd known him I'd have been too busy guarding my virtue….let us greet this neo-Nazi baron."

Von Strang clicked his heels punctiliously at Krait and kissed her hand with more military efficiency than romantic fervour. His cold, pale blue eyes swept her face and noted her plain but expensive looking robe with approval. It was not dissimilar to his own, though his was of masculine cut, and put her forcibly in mind of Lucius Malfoy.

"Fraulein Voldemort" he said, formally.

"I rather think" said Krait, thoughtfully "That my father enjoys the uniqueness of his self bestowed name and title….it were better if you address me by my mother's family name, Malfoy."

"Ah….I wondered, seeing your looks…..the perfect Aryan type, so typified by so ancient a pure-bred family as the Malfoys. Had I known there was a female Malfoy of suitable age I might have applied to Lucius for my second wife and waited for you to be of age, rather than take a suitable, but lower born German witch like Adalheid….though she has given me two children, including a son…."

"I am sorry to hear that you lost your first wife….you obviously wanted to wait to assuage your grief, though yet to balance that with the needs of any children you might have…" Krait went fishing for information.

Von Strang's face hardened.

"My first wife was a blood-liar. I discovered that four generations back she had undisclosed mud blood….naturally I could not support that. Her brat remains at Durmstrang and may be of use, but assure your esteemed father that he will not ever succeed me."

"I see" said Krait. "That must have been a shock."

"I was beside myself." Said the baron. "At least I do not have to look upon the vapid and weak creature she bore me now he can be left at school; he will serve in some menial capacity, it seemed a waste to kill him."

"Quite" said Krait, concealing her horror.

-/-

Dinner was served; and Krait observed her host and his guest covertly. They ignored the two house elves serving – the same Beloc Krait had earlier spoken to, and another, female, who bore enough resemblance to him, Krait thought, to be a relative, not unlikely if servitude were hereditary. She bestowed smiles upon both, who seemed half gratified half frightened to be noticed; though the young female stared at Krait with some interest, and the girl guessed that Beloc's tale had lost nothing in the telling. He must be clever to be able to pass it on without making overt criticism of his master in so doing. How anyone could expect true loyalty when they gave no consideration to their underlings at all Krait failed to understand; and the Comte even backhanded the little female casually, though quite hard enough to send the little creature flying, for a slight delay in passing a dish. This was a part of the Wizarding World Krait had every intention of seeing done away with.

There was certainly a tension to the atmosphere; M. le Comte was busy emphasising that he was a servant of the Dark Lord and that the German factions would, if they knew what was good for them, come in with the great Lord Voldemort. In between this he was pouring every possible compliment on Krait, worthy daughter of one so mighty. Evidently he had not given up hope that his excessive air of French address would impress her. His brother-in-law, not to be outdone, agreed to every compliment and went so far as to propose a toast to Krait's beauty. He smiled a lot and showed a lot of less than well cleaned ivory; and Krait loathed him intensely.

"The beautiful Mademoiselle is an ornament to her father's house" he said, bowing his upper body to her across the table. "And will honour the house of anyone fortunate to win her hand"

Krait regarded him thoughtfully, realising what that was all about; she knew she was beautiful, but the Comte's brother-in-law would doubtless have found compliments were she wall-eyed and covered in zits.

"Indeed" she agreed icily as to her worth.

"Naturally, your mighty father has already introduced you to the best society of English wizards…though I believe their English reserve hardly makes for such address as you might find here in France…" he persisted.

"Hardly so mighty" sneered Von Strang, plainly as bored and revolted by the obvious tactics as Krait. "When one bears in mind that his powers were largely stripped from him by a baby and even now he fears the powers of that child in adolescence and dares not act for most of his meagre following languish in Azkaban. Saving your presence Fraulein Malfoy."

It was worded as an apology but was scarcely so.

Krait smiled.

"To all outward appearances and to the uninitiated it must seem that my father is in poor case indeed; yet those of us who are close to him are well aware that the facts are far from the way that you state them. Is that not so, M. le Comte?" she had been carefully over the last two courses transfiguring the Comte's wine into something a little stronger; and the Frenchman was decidedly tipsy and ready to be aggressive.

"Indeed, yes!" cried the Comte. "Facts? This sausage-eating Cochon has no idea what he is talking about! He'd not recognise a fact if it bit him!"

Von Strang went dangerously white.

"Do you call me a liar, Comte de Malvaison?" he said dangerously.

"I call you a fool, a blowhard Gasconade and blind as a bat!" said the Comte.

"Of such does the Dark Lord choose his minions?" said Von Strang, scornfully. "Fraulein Malfoy, your father is wise to seek an alliance with we of ODESSA, we at least are efficient. Indeed, you may wish to consider abandoning an old man with more ambition than ability and throw in your lot with us." He smiled thinly and bowed across the table to her. "You would find no shortage of excellent young suitors, all pure-bred wizards, amongst my acquaintance."

"Thank you, I have already chosen my loyalties" said Krait coldly "And I do not renege on the same. Comte, I think your words were hasty and not entirely well considered, shall we say that your cellar spoke for you and resume this discussion on the morrow when all are in better temper and health so to do?"

"The hell with that!" roared the Comte. "I? the worse for wear? At this hour? It is impossible! That insufferable swine shall meet me!"

Von Strang rose and clicked his heels.

"When and where you please, M. le Comte" he said coldly. "My wand is at your disposal."

"No it is not!" said Krait, sharply. "My father wished discussions, not the quarrelling of overgrown infants about who has thrown their toys out of the sandbox…..if the Organisation de SS Angehoren – yes, I know what it stands for – is not prepared to look further than a slight lapse on the part of the Comte, we are not prepared to continue these discussions at this stage…..besides, your over close association with the muggle organisation of the same name makes your protestations of purity rather suspect."

"They were tools….it was for convenience!" snapped Von Strang.

"So? Then be prepared to prove that – if you still wish to have talks. But go back to your ODESSA and tell them to send someone of continent manner who does not rise to the baiting of one fool, whilst showing by his speech that he is another kind. I am unimpressed by either of you. Good night!" she rose and swept out, closely followed by Severus.

"You certainly sail close to the wind" he observed dryly.

"Worked though" she grinned. "Now! We find a disused toilet to set up a passage to Myrtle's loo….and call in the Muggle Studies Hobbies group to be ready for first strike."

Finding a disused toilet in so rambling a pile was not hard.

The opening of gates was starting to become almost routine; though Krait was self disciplined enough to run through every check in her head rather than risk making an error. It would be too late to discover an omission should one of their group be divided, like Gaul, into three parts, one in England, one in France and another in the between space.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Extreme violence in this chapter [and just because I also write for the Scarlet Pimpernel doesn't mean I've posted the wrong chapter here… the title is just my macabre sense of humour]**_

**Chapter 2 A la lanterne les Aristos**

Krait reported next day to her father that the talks had broken down.

"The Comte was drunk, I cannot excuse that… but Von Strang went out of his way to provoke him" she said. "One could almost suspect him of wanting to breach etiquette for some reason of his own…..would ODESSA like to take over from you?"

Voldemort looked thoughtful.

"It is not impossible…. We must keep a close eye on this Von Strang. You did well to end the talks before anything disastrous came about. A duel could not easily be hushed up."

"Severus believes he has a line on watching von Strang…." She said, spinning fiction convincingly to herself, ready to tell the big lie. "Strang's first wife he – I believe – killed for being not pure blood; but according to Severus he had been on a trip to Durmstrang not long before the late Baroness Von Strang wed this Baron, and had a liason…..he thinks the eldest von Strang boy might be his, for he says he, er, comforted the girl over a distasteful marriage…..he wants permission to take the boy from Durmstrang and raise him if he is." They had discussed the unfortunate boy and come up with a way to rescue him from his situation; described by his father as 'vapid and weak' it hardly seemed likely that he was a good little Nazi in the making!

"Well well…Severus gets about more than I'd credited him with…..I'd half expected him to come to your bed a virgin!" laughed Voldemort. Krait smiled an enigmatic smile. "What do you think about this?"

"He'll owe us one more favour" she said bluntly. "It's not like taking on a babe….or even his pet Malfoys, who are at least my bloodkin and part of MY insurance against Lucius….the boy could give us some insights. I've no objection if the idea pleases you, My Lord."

"Then let Severus kidnap him as he sees fit….the boy might yet even come willingly if Severus is sufficiently adroit. I will cogitate over what is to be done about ODESSA – and the maladroit Comte." He smiled nastily. Krait bowed and left.

There was only a limited time to act.

-/-

The Muggle Studies Hobbies group had spent some time setting up what they facetiously referred to as 'the loo network' from each stall in Myrtle's bathroom to the loos of various of the homes of the members; and Krait went from Malfoy Manor to the Burrows to Neville's Gran's house collecting people. The Weasley contingent was largest, with the twins and Ginny as well as Ron; also Hermione, who was staying at the Burrows. There was Neville, glad of a rescue from his gran's austere presence and David who stayed with his less severe Gran at Hogwarts. Harry, at the Dursleys, was left out of it.

"Which is damnably unfortunate for Harry" said Krait "But Fishface might be able to sense if he'd been there anyway…..and he must be protected by Lily's sacrifice. Anyone seen Sirius?"

"He's at Order of the Phoenix headquarters" said Fred. "They've gone to his old family home, but it's been protected so nobody can tell you where it is save Dumbledore…..all the grownups are busy talking and aren't letting us in on anything….what about you, sir?" he grinned at Severus.

"I swore the same oath as the others to not say anything to you underage wizards and witches" said Severus. George groaned.

"We're of age….we passed our apparating licences too!" he said.

"But the Order of the Phoenix does not let in people still at school…let me finish however, Mr Weasley if you please" said Severus. "Krait and I have a – mental link, as you might say….she knows if she concentrates what is in my mind, and I can hardly" he added dreamily "Be accused of passing on information just because she happens to be eavesdropping on my thoughts, can I?"

"Sophistry!" cried Hermione.

"And will you refuse to listen to information gained by sophistry that might save your friend's life?" asked Severus softly. "I do not agree with the concept of 'only telling Harry what he needs to know' – or rather I consider he has a need to know more than the others are willing to tell him. You are none of you children, and if you come on this mission you will also have, in Mr Fraser's military idiom, have 'seen the elephant'."

Hermione swallowed.

"We – we're actually going to kill people?" she said in a small voice.

"It is an unfortunate side effect of being at war" said Severus grimly. "Fishface hasn't been trying to get Harry up against a wall to tickle him. He wants him dead. If that damned trophy had been the Portkey it was supposed to be, he and Cedric Diggory would both have been dead. These people make the nuns in Krait's and the babes' orphanage look like pussy cats. We need to prevent Fishface from having a firm toehold in France; the support of this Count and any supporters HE has and the German and any supporter HE has could make a difference in whether they are available to fight for the dark lord and if so, how many of your friends will die because of that. You friends of Harry have often complained that you are not treated like adults; we are taking the drastic decision of doing you that compliment. If you can't cope with that, Miss Granger, I suggest you, and anyone else of like mind leaves now. This is going to be messy."

Hermione swallowed.

"I – I guess I can handle whatever we have to do – if you're certain it's necessary."

"I am. The French connection is bad enough; but if Fishface once combines with an external organisation like ODESSA we haven't a chance of defeating him without Ministry aid, and we shan't get that before Hell freezes over. We will use the expedient of removing a French Deatheater to attack the alliance with ODESSA."

"I see." Hermione nodded. "You were starting to lighten up before the holidays….it's a bit scary you doing all formal again."

"Maybe because, Hermione, I too am scared" said Severus softly. "Nobody has had the temerity to do what we are doing….and without the knowledge or sanction of the Order of the Phoenix either, for Molly and Arthur would never agree….but then they'd never have given permission for twelve year olds to enter the Chamber of Secrets either. And they'd probably have been right at that" he added sardonically.

"I'm scared too…." Put in Draco "I'm not a natural killer, as you proved, Krait….but we've got to do this, haven't we? To stop being slaves….we have to stand up to stop everyone being in a similar position to your blasted House Elves, Granger."

Hermione opened her mouth and Krait stood on her foot.

"He only means you go on rather, not that you're wrong" she said hastily, glaring at Draco. He nodded agreement. "Good, let's not let ourselves be split by dissention" Krait added.

Ron cleared his throat.

"I want to join the Blood Group whatever my parents say" he said "And Hermione agrees. Don't you?"

"Well…I've been reading a bit more about things like that…" said Hermione. "If you make sure and sterilise the knife before hand."

"Certainly" said Severus, and managed to keep his face quite straight. "I just want to contact Sirius on the floo and see if he'll join us."

Krait and Ginny exchanged a look; Ginny had said last year that if only Hermione had read about blood magic she would have believed in it. She mouthed 'told you so' to Krait. Krait gave a rueful grin.

-/-

Twenty minutes later Sirius Black strolled into the toilet where David was passing weapons up from the chamber of secrets.

"Blooding first" said Severus "Before we go….better protection for Ron and Hermione. Not the twins?"

Fred and George looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No offence Professor" said Fred "But we're independent….we have each other. We want to help Harry, but it's not for us….you know."

Severus nodded.

"Understood….we shall be twelve, a moderately auspicious number."

-/-

Hermione had created less difficulty about being blooded than anyone thought; Ron wore an idiotic grin on his face at being able to feel Harry, even though his friend was not present, and was quite restored to good humour towards Draco, for in truth he had been feeling insanely jealous of the Slytherin boy's privileged position as Harry's brother. Hermione looked briefly startled as she felt the roar of the blood of her fellows; then a thoughtful expression crossed her face, and Krait filed away the thought that Hermione was quite likely to use the blood bond in her determined pursuit of the unconscious Ron. Not to mention experimenting for herself, no doubt!

-/-

The Muggle Studies Hobbies Group crawled through the gateway to the Chateau Malvaison: they were wearing camouflage and had blacked their faces. It was all, David insisted, part of the ritual to put them in the right mind.

"If anyone freezes, cast spells of protection at least, even if you can't shoot people" he advised. "This is an overkill mission, the Comte, his wife and brother-in-law; one person could do it if they were muggles and had no spells against us" the boy said seriously. "But this is to enable us to find out if we truly have the fortitude to kill if we have to and to find out how well we work together. Isn't that so, Severus?" he had adopted Krait's habit of using Snape's first name out of school.

"Indeed" Severus agreed. "Let us see what we can do."

-/-

It was their first mission; and they did not accomplish the trip from the loo to the main salon noiselessly; and it has to be said that Fred and George laughing at the décor did not help.

The naked nymphs supporting the towel rail were a trifle excessive – not merely in their presence but in their abundant assets – but Krait still sighed. Fred and George meant well but they were so very young for their age. Sirius and James must have been very similar. Knocking Fred and George's heads together occasionally did help and she proceeded to do so by the expedient of grabbing an ear of each and sharply bringing her hands together.

It was, she reflected, trying to be fair, partly to cover nervousness of course but the Weasleys all had rather LOUD laughs; and though they took no offence at her chastisement they did laugh again and if anyone with pretensions of being alive and with normal hearing in the chateau were not alerted it was not the fault of the twins.

The Comte was an efficient enough wizard, who was in no wise deaf; and he had his wand out as they burst in.

"PROTEGO!" Severus roared as fire coursed from the wand; and the spell washed harmlessly over the wall of force. Sirius raised his own wand rather than his automatic rifle out of sheer instinct; and the Comte's wife cried

"_Avada Kedavra!_"

The green flash hurtled towards Sirius, but Severus kicked the heavier man's feet out from under him, and the killing charm dissipated explosively on an ornamental pillar.

"FIRE!" shouted David, reflecting that he was glad that the enemy had shown themselves prepared to use deadly force first. A fusillade of automatic fire ended the fight quickly and extremely messily.

"I'm going to be sick" said Hermione.

"No you're not" said Krait, who was determinedly and white-faced scrawling a double sig rune on the wall with blood. "We can puke when we get back….it can be magically tracked, you know."

"Can it? Oh dear!" said Hermione, swallowing hard several times.

"They'll know what happened by the bullets, of course….so they'll know it was muggle stuff" said David, disgusted. "I forgot that…."

"Idiot! We collect the bullets!" said Krait.

"We'll never collect them all….and there'll be some within the bodies…." Protested David.

"He's right!" Hermione wrung her hands.

"Call yourself a witch?" scoffed Krait. "_Accio_ Bullets!"

Bullets started accumulating in her outstretched hands. Some of them were horridly stained, and Krait turned her face aside for a moment before deliberately dropping them in the large pocket of her combat jacket.

"Neat" said David, concentrating hard on details to stop his own nausea. "No sign to prove it wasn't some new spell. Don't forget the cartridge cases."

"_Accio_ Cartridge cases!" several voices rang out, collecting their own cases for the most part; Hermione making sure of any that might be missed.

"And no way of proving a particular wand responsible since it wasn't" said Severus. He looked a little pale. "Let's get out of here."

"A moment" said Krait. The scared faces of several house elves were looking round the door.

"Your master is dead" she said harshly. "Has he kin?"

The oldest male elf shook his head.

"Then you are all free!" said Hermione.

"Please, we belong to you mistress" said Beloc to Krait "Because you have right of conquest…"

Krait blinked.

"You can't accept!" Hermione was scandalised.

"And leave them without any protection? What kind of monster do you take me for?" snapped Krait. "Will you accept a compromise – to work for me for pay, it won't be much, and to wear my livery?"

"Madame, does that mean we shall be free but respectable?" asked the older male.

"It does" said Krait.

"Then on behalf of my wife and children I accept" he bowed deeply. "We will take clothes if we may serve with honour."

"What is your name?" asked Krait.

"I am called Albey….my wife is Mimette and our daughter is Sirri….Beloc has told you his name I believe, Madame." He bowed deeply. Krait caught his gaze and held it.

"I fight those who like to harm others, Albey" she said "Including your late master's master… it may bring danger. You may prefer in your freedom to leave me and serve another less risky…"  
Albey drew himself up to his full three feet.

"The mistress has rescued us….we will risk any danger for her!" he said in his squeaky voice.

What passed in his surface thoughts satisfied Krait….there was no chance this elf would betray her to her father; and in turn she held the eye of each. They all wanted to serve someone who appreciated their service and would not order excessive punishment!

"Then let's get the hell out of here" said Krait.

It was a suggestion gratefully taken up!

-/-

Sirius said in a low voice to Severus,

"Looks like I owe you a life debt." He didn't sound pleased.

Severus shrugged.

"You owe me bruised knees and a sore arse….we are a team. I was closest to you….you'd have done the same if she'd been aiming at me. Forget it, Padfoot….if this goes to plan every one of us is going to be owing life debts to every other for a long time. We will BLEED for each other….hell, we might even have taken the killing charm and dissipated it all of us…..I wasn't prepared to take the chance we could do that though. I don't know enough about what the blood kinship can do….and it was rather a short order to decide to use you as a guinea pig…." He grinned at Sirius.

Almost reluctantly Sirius grinned back.

"That was the damnedest thing to say!" he protested. Severus raised an eyebrow.

"What, that I WASN'T going to use you as a guinea pig?"

"That the thought even crossed your mind…."

"I'm afraid it didn't at the time" said Severus, pulling a mournful face. "I confess, I just acted without thinking….it was only afterwards I wondered what might have happened. Of course" he added cheerfully "It might have bounced through all of us and taken us all in one fell swoop, Harry included!"

"You….no, else, Harry would not have survived with Lily taking the spell meant for him….divided amongst several we might well dissipate it. I never thought to hear you tease me so amicably…."

"We're brothers, aren't we?" said Severus.

"I loathed my brother….."

"If he'd broken away as he wanted to, and been able to join you, you'd have changed your mind about that….been proud of the poor little bastard" said Severus softly. "He was in too deep in something he wasn't fitted for…..same as Draco would have been if Krait hadn't stolen him from his wretched father."

"Maybe…hell, you're right…I always thought you liked Lucius Malfoy, you know."

"I've always been scared of Lucius Malfoy….sometimes he can be good company, but there's a hardness to him, partly it's the haughty mien of these scions of old families…" he grinned impishly.

Sirius laughed.

"Merlin's beard, I could almost like you at times….."

"Frightening, isn't it? There are times when I find myself not entirely at odds with you too…don't tell anyone, they might think we were becoming friends as well as brothers, and surely that would never do."

"Idiot."

"Probably. At least we're idiots who can talk now."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 Dementors in Little Whingeing**

The muggle studies hobbies group dealt with the problems of their first brush with killing by much hugging, occasional weeping and throwing up; and hot sweet cocoa brewed in Severus' favourite cauldron. Draco and Neville were reluctant to depart once they knew that the Weasleys and Hermione were at least to be in association with the Order of the Phoenix.

"We'll keep you posted" said Krait "And at least you can write to poor old Harry, who's stuck being part of nothing right now. Draco, you're our eyes in your father's house….I know it's pretty distasteful but we rely on you to pick up anything Severus and I miss."

"Mistress, we can take news for people" Sirri pulled at Krait's arm to get her attention. "Nobody takes notice of house elves."

"True enough….we must get you nice clothes though first" said Krait.

"Nice clothes like yours?" asked Sirri wistfully.

"Sirri! Madame, disregard her insolence, I beg!" cried Mimette.

Krait laughed.

"There is no insolence, it is flattering…. Black velvet it shall be, then, and I can see Albey and Beloc very smart in black knee breeches and white ruffled silk shirts…..all new romantic and Goth" she said.

"What ARE you like?" scolded Hermione.

"A nutter. Next question?" laughed Krait.

"Mistress is NOT a nutter! She is very good mistress to us!" Sirri scolded back.

"Krait. Not mistress" murmured Krait.

"Yes Mistress Krait" said Sirri firmly, folding her tiny arms and staring down her nose at Hermione.

The group broke up quickly after that and went their separate ways.

-/-

Voldemort was furious about the supposed treacherous ODESSA attack on his minion.

"We will teach them a lesson" he said. "Soon I will be joined by some of my oldest and most valued servants….then, my daughter, shall you be blooded, and I shall see your mettle in battle."

"I look forward to serving you in so practical a way, father" said Krait eagerly. The opportunity to silence Von Strang before he could comment on her fuelling the argument or deny having attacked the chateau would be useful; and his cold blooded disposal of his first wife and indifference to his own son left Krait feeling that she would not even mind too much being a part of killing him. At least the effort against the Malveisons had been shared; but she balked at the idea of having to kill with magic. It was too personal.

-/-

How Voldemort intended to get back his old friends Severus was not sure; but as he had claimed the Dementors his natural allies, it seemed likely that he intended to release them from Azkaban, and so Severus reported. He had just got back to tell Krait that Arthur was fondly hoping that such could not happen but gloomily prepared to accept that it would when their blood throbbed! Harry was scared!

Severus grabbed Krait's hand to apparate directly to Harry – a risky business, but one he did not hesitate over – and they found themselves in a back street in Little Whingeing with Sirius appearing right along side them. Harry was preparing to fight off two dementors who were attacking a fat boy who almost had to be his cousin Dudley.

"Don't, Harry!" roared Severus. "Let us!" he raised his wand. "_RIDE!"_ he cried, the pronunciation of the imperative of the verb to laugh being 'reeday'. Sirius had been in the middle of releasing his Patronus charm, and blinked to see Severus' dementor laugh maniacally until it exploded. He was quick to follow suit on his.

"Nice spell, Scales" he said.

Severus smiled grimly.

"Krait's…..but we can't have accusations of underage magic…..thanks for the nickname"

"Guess it's owing….you'd not have made a half bad Marauder I suppose."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "That's supposed to be a compliment? Harry, did you do any magic? Any at all?" he gestured to the semiconscious Dudley. Harry shook his head.

"N-no….I was about to summon a Patronus when you all turned up…."

"Good man….Sirius, make yourself scarce, in case anyone sees you….I'll modify the lump of lard's memories and we'll do just fine…..I'll lodge a complaint at the ministry anyway about them sending dementors after my students, no matter how dunder headed…." He smiled reassuringly at Harry. "I'll claim I was on my way to return an execrable essay and insist you re-wrote it….somebody sent that Dementor. I'll be back." He passed his wand over Dudley a couple of times and placed a hand to the boy's head, shuddering. "Not a pleasant excursion to be in there….keep your cool Harry, keep your wand out of sight." He disapparated with a minimal cracking noise.

Dudley groaned and sat up. He was a big boy, though there was muscle underlying the fat; Harry had told his friends dolefully that as well as losing some weight, Dudley had taken up boxing and was now a worse bully than ever. Severus had communicated a quick idea to Krait before he left to cover Dudley being on the ground and semi conscious.

"Sorry" said Krait putting out a hand to help him up. "I wasn't looking where I was going, ran right into you."

Dudley looked her up and down and grinned nastily.

"How about a kiss to say sorry?" he said pursing up his lips.

Krait blinked.

"Potter, do you actually associate with low types like this?" she said scornfully.

"Er, this is my cousin Dudley, Malfoy." Said Harry, catching on quite quickly.

"Oh yes….the suburbans." Krait did her best Malfoy sneer. "Well, you can't help being born in poverty and living in squalor like this I suppose" she sighed and looked around.

"Here – my mum and dad are very well off!" yelped Dudley. Krait was dressed in jeans and a silk T-shirt – both black, and both undoubtedly expensive; because Krait had decided that to buy quality was an economy in the long run; and she had invested in jewellery that both pleased her and would form portable wealth if she and Severus ever found themselves on the run – and Dudley had not yet twigged that she was a witch. He did, however, start to take in her obvious self confidence and had enough knowledge to recognise that her clothes were not off any old peg.

"For the neighbourhood, doubtless" said Krait, in a bored tone of voice in answer to Dudley's injured comment. "Draco sends his best, by the way, says he's bored without the old crowd, hopes you'll remember to write to him from time to time. Damn!" she said as a loud CRACK! Heralded someone apparating. The new arrival smelled of stale drink and staler tobacco and looked like a cross between a down-and-out and a ginger-haired basset hound. He was also clutching a silvery bundle that was unmistakeably an invisibility cloak.

Dudley gibbered; then his eyes widened with sudden memory; and Krait realised that he had the will power to push past Severus' rather hasty confundment to recall the Dementors.

Being uncertain of how to obliviate or confund – she was still learning – Krait took the muggle alternative and scientifically sapped Dudley on the back of the head with a couple of galleons wrapped in her handkerchief.

He went down heavily.

A second figure hustled round the corner, a rather fluffy looking old lady.

"Uh…Mrs Figg…" said Harry.

"Mundungus Fletcher, I'm going to kill you!" screeched the old lady at the recently apparated arrival.

"S'up, Figgy?" he asked. "What 'appened to undercover?"

"I'll give you UNDERCOVER!" cried Mrs Figg. "Dementors, that's what happened! If Sirius Black and Severus Snape hadn't turned up… you useless skiving sneak thief, picking up dodgy cauldrons indeed! And me not able to do a stroke of magic!"

"Mrs Figg? You – you're a squib? Why didn't you tell me?" asked Harry.

"Dumbledore's orders….I had to give you a miserable time when you came over, or those wretched family of yours wouldn't have let you….we have you under surveillance, it's supposed to be ALL THE TIME" she glared at Fletcher "Because I can't protect you….fortunately Mr Tibbles was watching….Fletcher, go and warn Dumbledore, NOW!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going!" the ginger haired thief grumbled and dissapparated with another loud CRACK!

None too soon: Dudley groaned and sat up.

"Dear me, Dudley are you all right?" asked Mrs Figg.

"Oh – Mrs Figg" Dudley said without enthusiasm, wincing and feeling his head tenderly.

"He seems to keep getting these giddy spells" murmured Krait.

"Dudley, Harry….who's the girlfriend?" she asked archly.

"Uh….this is Miss Malfoy, Mrs Figg" said Harry. "She and her cousin are friends of mine."

"Malfoy? Not the Wiltshire Malfoys?" Mrs Figg was slightly flustered.

"ARE there any other Malfoys?" drawled Krait. "Potter, I'll wait at your hovel – house- if I may, Professor Snape was escorting me when he got so suddenly called away, he'll be there soon."

"What does he want?" Harry played the game, knowing that Dudley would repeat every word.

"You screwed up that last essay you wrote him….he wants it redone and probably with addenda and in spades just to keep you miserable until the end of the holidays" said Krait. "I told you, you idiot, you should have cribbed my notes."

Dudley was bursting with indignation, now the discussion showed Krait to be of Harry's kind, at having to walk with a witch and with Harry discussing THAT WORLD in front of him, unable to say a word because their batty old neighbour was there! At least Harry looked like he was in for a bad time. And there had been creatures he dimly remembered attacking HIM – and Harry leaping in front of him, and this girl arriving and a lot of very confused memories and a headache.

Dudley really turned green when a screech owl flew silently up to Harry in the garden and presented him with an envelope; but Mrs Figg fortunately appeared to be admiring the hydrangeas. Harry ripped open the letter and Krait shamelessly read over his shoulder.

_Dear Mr Potter,_

_Whilst we received intelligence that magic was performed in your vicinity at twenty three minutes past nine this evening in the presence of a muggle you will be relieved to learn that you are in no way to be held accountable though you have received grudging commendation for your willingness to open yourself to action by defending the said muggle. The situation is most irregular and will receive full investigation. In view of your record and official warning under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy we are hopeful that you will continue to be duly circumspect in your behaviour._

_Hoping you are well,_

_Mafalda Hopkirk_

_Improper use of magic Office_

_Ministry of Magic._

"Cuh!" said Krait. "No wonder taxes are so high when they write to tell you you're not in trouble!"

"I could care less about taxes" said Harry, deeply relieved.

_**ssss**__Severus got there in time to stop them indicting you….I wonder who did it __**ssss**_ Krait said in Parseltongue.

_**ssss**__I don't know….it must be Fishface, surely?__**ssss**_

_**ssss**__Or someone in the ministry using you to discredit Dumbledore….Harry, you do read the Prophet, don't you?__**ssss**_

_**ssss**__Yeah….but there's nothing to suggest he's been up to anything…__**ssss**_

_**ssss**__Read closer….they're trying to make out Dumbledore's an old fool and you're a nutter…damn this!__**ssss**_

She smiled brightly at Dudley.

"Do you like snakes? My pet Septimus wants to come out and say hello….." she unwound several feet of the big black constrictor. Dudley turned pale.

"Keep it away from me…don't let it bite me!"

"Don't be silly….he's not poisonous, he's a constrictor. I say, Potter, what a little girl your cousin is" she said scornfully. Dudley changed colour several times.

Petunia had come out.

"What's going on?" she asked sharply.

"Oh Mrs Dursley….nice to meet you." Said Krait, holding out a hand. "Augusta Malfoy."

"M-Malfoy?" the name evidently meant something to Petunia. She went a sickly colour.

Krait smiled.

"Indeed…nice neat little place you have here, must be quite like having a dolls' house….but I suppose you don't have the problem of having to deal with servants in such a compact and bijou little residence."

Harry, knowing Krait was used to being poorer than the Weasleys, was trying hard not to laugh. His aunt was torn between wanting to throw Krait out and not wanting to offend such powerful persons as the Malfoys. Krait heard the discreet TAC! That was Severus returning somewhere up the street and said,

"Ah, here's Professor Snape….I'm afraid Potter's in it up to his neck….I'll make myself tactfully scarce if you don't mind."

Petunia gave Severus a baleful look which he returned with a coldly civil nod. Krait knew that he had known both Evans girls before he and Lily went to school; and that he and Petunia did NOT like each other at all.

Severus duly gave Harry a good ticking off for poor work and told him to write at least twelve inchesin repeating his assignment. To Petunia's relief Severus did not once mention the assignment in detail; and dressed in a long leather duster with his hair tied back in a ponytail did not look as much a weirdo as some of the wizards she was used to seeing, nor yet anything like the child dressed in mismatched garb he had once been. She almost resented that.

They left Harry as owls started arriving from all and sundry, and Uncle Vernon's bellowing about them resounded across the street.

"Any joy from the ministry?" asked Krait.

"Only to stop them summarily expelling the boy and breaking his wand….I pointed out the only magic performed was mine, and it was a fortunate coincidence that I was visiting the Potter boy to return poor work….I ventured that, much as I disliked the boy and despaired of his attainment of the simplest of potions, even I felt that a pair of dementors was rather a harsh discipline to send him, especially in front of his muggle cousin; and demanded to know why the discipline of my pupils was being taken on by creatures out of Azkaban. The Minister got flustered at that point and I pressed home the advantage by complaining about the inconvenience and so on. They'll go through the motions of making an enquiry, but I doubt they'll find out how it came about that two stray dementors were in Little Whingeing."

Krait sniffed.

"Either it was my dear father….and somehow I doubt that, he'd want to watch, and I didn't feel him and nor did Harry…..or

someone in the ministry who has control of the things is sucking up to Fudge by making sure that Harry's not at school to testify to the realness of Fishface…someone with their own agenda. Which could be one of two agendas: to marginalise Dumbledore because they really are more interested in politics than in Fishface: or to make the way for my father clearer. The first seems too incredible to believe."

"And yet it is possible….the capacity for self-deception in humans is incredible. There's a book about why muggles prefer not to know…but people forget, it's not only muggles who have this capacity to rationalise things to fit their desired world view. We're as human as muggles. Look at my despite for Harry…..it was unrealistic and I can come to terms with that. But there are lots of people who do not WANT to believe that your father can return….and so they convince themselves that if they say it isn't so, then it really isn't so…..people like Dumbledore and Harry make them uncomfortable because they might have proofs to shatter their inaccurate but more comfortable world view…..therefore Harry and Dumbledore must be discredited."

"That's plain stupid!" she cried angrily. He gave a faint smile.

"You think muggles have a monopoly on stupid? Think again. You go docilely where the facts lead you; and if they contradict a pet theory of yours, YOU my love are big enough to discard the theory instead of cramming the facts into a shape that fits it…just because someone has a down on Harry doesn't mean they work for your father. We must beware of seeing Death Eaters under every bed."

Krait chuckled despite her irritation and touched his left forearm.

"I'm content to have just one in my bed…. "

Severus blushed, and caught his breath.

"Krait….it's going to be a busy time, we'll have little time for each other, I fear…."

"But we are one….you must report to the Order, get me home, then go see them….they should remove Harry from that place - he must surely be safe with Sirius? And if I can go too, I can pass on stuff to the others…..Jade and Lydia will be safe with Gran for a little while, I can pop back and forth with you."

He nodded, and apparated her back to Hogsmeade, leaving her with a long and tender kiss.


	4. Chapter 4

_**violence in this chapter**_

_**the problem of random 'I' changes for proper names should now be sorted and I believe I have traced the source of the problem**_

**Chapter 4 Vorsprung Deuch Schreklich't**

Krait was apprehensive about the trip to punish Von Strang; and watched the Daily Prophet anxiously for news of the escape of the Death Eaters. As it was, Voldemort contacted her first.

"I have decided to delay the release of my loyal minions….it will alert the ministry, and I am inclined to let them do my work for me in discrediting Dumbledore's fears and making Potter out to be sadly unstable….we shall have to do it with just the assets at our disposal. Lucius will assuredly help; do you think it is time yet to blood Draco?"

Krait frowned in thought. She had panicked briefly, thinking of the blood magic ritual; but what her father meant was to blood him to battle. She spoke calmly.

"No, my Lord; he'd be more a hindrance than an asset. He's pretty immature, thanks in large to Narcissa. I'd not trust him not to freeze or panic. A year or so might make all the difference."

Voldemort nodded and cracked his long white fingers.

"I trust your judgement, my daughter….we shall apparate with brooms in hand to approach more closely. There are some half dozen minions in the castle, I believe. It will not be difficult."

"We must be careful of course….but you are the mightiest wizard ever, so I do not fear." Said Krait.

"Good, good." Her father approved.

-/-/-/-

The attacking formation of brooms swept down on the castle; and Krait, bottle of potion concealed under her cloak, broke away and plummeted through the window where bright colours suggested a nursery. The young woman there with a small girl and boy screamed; and the little boy put himself in front of both his mother and his sister.

"Brave lad….listen, you have one chance to get away" said Krait, urgently. "Madam, take this potion, it is invisibility potion, and flee with your children and hide amongst the muggles. Gnädige Fraulein, I must use your dolls to save you and your mother, I fear they cannot go with you."

The small girl stared at her with one finger in her mouth. Krait thrust the bottle at the woman.

"Hurry!" she urged. Really, the woman seemed quite half witted, the odd sandwich or several short of a picnic. At last the young woman seemed to catch on.

"Why?" she murmured. "there are brooms – are they attacking? Why? And why do you save us?"

"The hell with why – just go, or your children will die" said Krait brutally, taking the flask and tipping some into the obedient mouth of the little girl and passing it to the boy to drink. "Take mother's hands now you two, lad, hand her the flask, she can't see it as you disappear – and get out!" Quickly she picked up three dolls and threw them out of the window, transfiguring them as she dropped them, that they fell with the correct degree of heaviness; and lay broken on the rocks below. When she turned, the door was open and she was apparently alone; and making a partial change she checked with her heat sensing abilities that the baroness and her children were indeed gone. The potion was not a perfect invisibility potion; perfect invisibility by spell or potion was difficult; but it had, Severus assured her, been an unusually good batch and in the half dark of shadowy corridors should be good enough if nobody was actually looking for the fugitives; and would hopefully last long enough for them to get mostly away. Krait sighed with relief and ran up to find the sounds of magical fighting. It was virtually over.

"Where have you been?" her father asked sibilantly.

_**ssss**__Cutting off root and branch __**ssss**_ said Krait bluntly. _**ssss**__I defenestrated them…You didn't want his brats left to avenge him, did you? The older boy is another matter if he's Severus'….and we can infiltrate him back to inherit and get some control through him when he's older anyway especially if there's nobody else to contest.__**ssss**_ She used Parseltongue to emphasise their supposed closeness.

_**ssss**__Oh yesss, that was well done indeed.__**ssss**_ He approved by his choice of the language as well as the words. He slipped back to English. "Only the Baron himself now…he's holed up and giving Lucius and Severus a hard time of it. I'd forgotten how good Severus really is in a fight…"

"My time, I think….." said Krait. "Sorry to have missed the fighting, but this is a snake's job…." She shifted into the ivory serpent and slipped past her father, brushing between Severus' legs on whispering scales as he dodged the spells that flew out of a door at the top of the narrow stair.

The venom Krait had chosen was fast, merciful; much as she loathed and despised the baron, she had no desire to prolong his agony. She had learned in killing the revolting Jonathon Malfoy that even if it might be just punishment that it revolted her and made her uncomfortable; and made her fear that she might be her father's true daughter in too many ways. Such was something she hoped to avoid!

Krait changed back and shouted,

"Clear!" as police officers often did on films. She had no desire to be spelled by Lucius and Severus by mistake as she stepped out!

"A little quick for my tastes….you will learn to refine your poison as you practise" commented Voldemort. "Severus, let her study venoms in potions….she will soon learn to duplicate them, I'm sure."

"Undoubtedly" said Severus. "She is remarkably talented."

"In all things Severus?" Voldemort laughed.

Severus flushed.

"I – I am well content My Lord" he said.

"I'm sure" was the dry response.

-/-/-/-

The trip to Durmstrang was the next priority; the Order was taking care of Harry, and Voldemort's bloodlust was temporarily sated. Severus knew the way and guided Krait on a long night flight by broom directly on from Von Strang's castle. The girl was almost dropping from tiredness by the time they saw the forbidding and brooding edifice that was Durmstrang looming out of the dawn mist.

"Ugly pile" she commented as they swooped in on a meadow pasture near the school. She leaned against Severus for support.

"Draw on the blood….it's what it's there for" he suggested.

"No need….we can rest a brief while to get my second wind. No point worrying people" said Krait. "I'm getting stronger, I'd never have lasted that long half a year ago."

"True…the morning runs are an excellent discipline. I feel much fitter myself."

"Your legs are much more muscular….no, better shy away from your legs, too much temptation to follow that thought up….in more ways than one…."

"I see you're feeling better already" he said, colouring slightly, and smiling down at her. "There's a solitary lad out there, even at this hour…..I wonder if he's our one."

"Let's ask him" said Krait.

-/-

The boy was a sturdy twelve year old with sandy hair and a gentle face. He had been staring disconsolately at the lake but turned quickly as they approached.

"Are you young Von Strang?" asked Severus bluntly.

The lad looked down his nose.

"My name is Erich Von Strang. What's it to anybody?"

"Would you be distressed to learn that your father is dead?" asked Severus baldly but not ungently.

"Distressed?" the boy changed colour several times. "No, I'd be glad to learn he was dead….is he? Does this mean that I've got to leave school and be put somewhere so as not to contaminate my brother and sister or something?" he asked bitterly.

"You poor little boy!" said Krait. "He hasn't been kind to you, has he?"

"He never did like me….I hated his cruelty" said Erich, simply. "I couldn't watch if he was torturing muggles….then he found out mother was part muggle, so he threw her off the tower. I saw it." He added quietly. "He – he kept me out of sight; and when he married Adalheid I played with the babies because she let me….I love Erwin and Helga, it's not Adalheid's fault he killed mummy….then he packed me off to school and left orders I was to stay in the holidays too. But it's somewhere to be, and I get to learn stuff…" Krait drew him into her arms and he burst into tears.

Presently the storm of sobbing was over and he gulped and said,

"I suppose you think that's pretty babyish."

"No, not at all" said Krait. "I think that's the first time you've been allowed to grieve properly for your mother; and it needed to come out. Now you can put that behind you and move on, without forgetting her of course; but you can rebuild your life."

"What happened?" Erich asked.

"It gets complex….he wasn't a nice man anyway and we had a hand in killing him…your brother and sister and stepmother got away, we helped them to. But we want to take you to Hogwarts"

"We told a lie that you are my son" said Severus. "To make sure you weren't killed too."

"Who by? Why?" he wanted to know.

They exchanged glances and Severus shrugged.

"Voldemort had quarrel with your father…..we engineered that quarrel, but he kills whole families. He believes your siblings to be dead….it's why it's safe to leave them for a while if they can hide amongst the muggles nearby."

"There are loyal ones….some would hurt them gladly. Adalheid isn't totally dim, though" he said judiciously "I should think she can take care of herself for a while." He looked thoughtfully at Severus. "You don't look cruel….I'd rather you were my father."

"That's settled, then" said Severus. "Your name is Erich Snape, and you'll enter Hogwarts next term in the second year….you can tell people that you first wanted to go to a school where your dad wasn't teaching, but didn't like Durmstrang. It's plausible enough. David Fraser, who is by way of being a ward of mine, will keep an eye to you until you settle in."

"I like being Erich Snape" said Erich firmly. "Can we go now? I'll need new uniform anyhow, and different books, so I've nothing left here to bother with."

"No personal items? Toys?" asked Severus in surprise.

The boy shrugged.

"I had a teddy bear….my father burned it when I was ten. Said I was too old for such things."

"I'd like to kill him again all over" said Krait, grinding her teeth.

"Save it for the next creep….there'll be others" Severus shrugged. "Let's get you safe home, lad."

The next person to worry about was someone Sirri had confided in Krait about.

"The – the old master had a house elf visit….to make me have a baby" she whispered. "She – she was taken away to be sold…HIS master and mine split the profit."

Krait was appalled.

"How old is she?" she asked.

"Nearly five….I miss her every day!" Sirri sniffed. "Sirri knows house elves isn't supposed to be happy, but you can do something can't you mistress?"

"I'll do my best….getting my hands on so much money to buy her out might be hard though" Krait said. Sirri beamed.

"Is no problem!" and snapped her fingers to dissapparate. After half an hour she returned with a big box filled to the brim – as she displayed by throwing it open with a flourish – with galleons.

"It was the old master's!" she said. "Is yours now!"

"It shall be used for buying out slaves" said Krait "Starting with your little girl. Severus will know how to go about it."

"He's very clever, isn't he?" said Sirri.

"Immensely" said Krait.

"And he doesn't order house elves to do things that is scary or painful" said Sirri with a sigh of satisfaction.

Krait stared in horror.

"Did that greasy old turd lay his filthy hands on you that way?" she demanded

Sirri bit her lip.

"Sirri need not punish herself…..Sirri need not punish herself" she said firmly, clasping her hands together. "He made me touch him….and things."

"Well done Sirri….you need never punish yourself again. Well, I shall tell Hermione Granger what an evil old lecher he was….she'll stop feeling guilty about killing the tyke then I wager" said Krait grimly. "That's if you'll let me tell her? In confidence?"

Sirri's big eyes filled with tears.

"Mistress Krait cares to ask!" she whispered. "Hermione Granger is a silly girl but well meaning….she needs to know what goes on if she really wants to help house elves."

"Not so much silly as single minded…she was much shocked to discover slavery in the wizarding world, and has no idea how to cope with the fact that most elves, especially if well treated, would be afraid of freedom….your family are remarkable."

"We is – are – going to talk like humans too" squeaked Sirri determinedly. "Sirri is – I am – going to bring up I to be a proper free person when you has found her."

"Good" said I, firmly.

Sirri knew her daughter's location, fortunately; and Krait came up with the idea of having Beloc slip a draught of will-weakening potion into her owner's drink whilst Severus was in negotiations with him. As Severus was probably the pre-eminent potioneer of the age, Krait was scarcely surprised when he turned up cuddling a terrified elf child as tenderly as if she were Jade or Lydia. And a good deal more gingerly; for she was so tiny and fragile-looking like a little doll!

With her little mother to dote upon her and the other two little girls to care for her, Krait had little doubt the child would soon settle in! Erich was settling well already, firm friends with David, and obviously charmed to spend time with the younger ones. He was plainly taken aback at having a house elf child treated as any other child; but kindness was a contrast to his father's ways; so he was happy to fall in with these new ways! He and David were also kind to little Grace Corbin, adjusting still to having been rejected by her own parents, and too shy to respond much yet to the unexpected gentleness she received from Krait and even the terrifying Professor Snape. She could not know that Severus too knew what it was like to have parents that showed clearly that they despised one, for whatever reason; and Severus had learned enough to recognise that impatience over low academic achievement was as damaging as bullying over physical weakness. He did not speak much to Grace; for he found it difficult to curb impatience with slower pupils, and it was better, he felt, to be remote than an object of terror. If he half regretted taking the child as his ward he gave no sign; and hoped fervently that the removal of pressure would help her academically, even as it seemed to do to Neville. Grace's gentleness was however helpful in getting Mimi settled!

Krait did not hesitate to tell Hermione all about Sirri's ordeals when next she saw her; and was rewarded by seeing the normally unemotional Hermione's eyes fill with tears of compassion.

"To think I felt almost sorry for that horrid man!" Hermione burst out. "I'm GLAD we shot him! I wish we could shoot him some more!"

"Hardly much of a discommodation to him now, I'd say" drawled Krait. "His nervous system being somewhat beyond any reaction to your lead-filled disapprobation"

Hermione stamped her foot.

"Oh, you're – you're IMPOSSIBLE!" she raged. "You know very well what I mean! Only you must insist on sounding like Severus!"

Krait grinned.

"Guilty….yes, of course I know what you mean…d'you think I don't feel the same way? I appreciate Sirri's feelings far more than you realise…."

"I thought you wanted to be with Severus? Or – Krait! Are you pregnant?" Hermione blurted, shocked. Krait blushed and nodded, smiling gently.

"Oh! How….IS it awful? You look pleased!" said Hermione.

"Tact? From you? Wonders never cease!" grinned Krait. "It could have been less inconvenient….but I'm due around February, so I'll be fine for the rest of my O.W.L.s by June I should think."

"If you're allowed to stay." Hermione was dubious.

"If I'm not there as a pupil I'll just move in with Severus….I can take the exams as an external student, surely; and if not, I can just study to a standard that'll please him" she said serenely.

"Well….I'll back you up" said Hermione staunchly.

"BEST of friends…and sister too, now!" said I happily, hugging her.

-/-

The Malvaison Chateau might yet too prove useful someday if there WERE indeed no heirs; and Krait asked the elves to visit from time to time to check nobody else had moved in, and to keep it more or less clean and in good repair. She was hazy about what she might plan to do with it; if, as Beloc and Sirri blandly asserted it was hers by right of conquest – or more properly, the whole Bloodgroup's, she thought – but she had at the back of her mind the thought that the loo connection could at a pinch be used to evacuate the entire of I too in an emergency.

_cultural reference; the selling point of a German made car on a Brit advert was the line 'vorsprung Deuch technik' so I sort of usurped it a little bit. Schrecklikeit is totally trashed and destroyed. Well I though it was funny anyway._

_I don't know if any accents I use will translate into the text but if they don't I do put on all accents and umlauts. If theydon't come through, I'm sorry._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 Grimmauld Place**

Severus had handed Krait a piece of paper with the words 'number 12 Grimmauld place' written on it in Dumbledore's spidery hand; and she had then been able to see the house between numbers eleven and thirteen as though it had suddenly inflated and pushed the other two houses aside.

"Ah….it works by bending sight" she said, happily. "So the brain interprets the area occupied as nothing there and so the brain fills in the gap….like the blind spot where the optic nerve comes in."

"More than likely" said Severus, irritably "Just knock and get inside before any muggles with more brains than usual notice you noticing and concentrate too hard."

Krait grinned and did as she was bid; and was soon being enveloped in a bear hug by Molly Weasley. She took stock and looked around. The impression was of decayed – very decayed – grandeur; though Krait approved the serpents that formed the basis for the cobwebby chandelier and candelabra. It was at least an austere grandeur of which Krait approved far more than the bizarre and fantastic opulence of the Malvaison Chateau. It could have been used quite happily for the set of a Gothic Horror film and she had to hide a grin as she absently cast Severus in the role of Christopher Lee and wondered whether a coffin in the front hall would be entirely inappropriate.

It would probably get in the way.

"Well! I shall be getting out a duster, brooms and polish as soon as we've reported!" she said, looking around. "Molly, you must be quite dismayed! Of course nobody's lived here for thirteen years or more….I could fetch Jade and Lydia if you like, they're no slouches at cleaning."

"No, dear, that's quite all right…I would appreciate your hands for helping with the cleaning though, boys are usually fairly useless, and I think Hermione's a bit too academic to have had much opportunity to learn the domestic side of life….so Ginny and I have to direct them a lot! And that Kreacher's no help!"

Krait laughed

"Which creature?" she asked curiously.

"not a creature – Kreacher, he's Sirius' house elf. Totally un-obliging, I must say!" Molly tutted. Krait was surprised.

"Most house elves are more than willing…..and obsessive about cleanliness. Molly, we rescued some….they'd have this house straight in a brace of shakes, I legilimensed them to check they'd not betray us, having come from a Death Eater…"

Molly hesitated.

"That would help so much…you're a legilimens? So young? I can scarcely credit it…."

Krait shrugged.

"Severus has put me through pretty rigorous training….the Good Lord knows, I need it, working with him against my father" she said philosophically. "We've so much to report….we'd better get on with it."

"Oh – Severus will do that, dear. You hop upstairs with the other young people, only adult wizards join the Order of the Phoenix."

"There's no arguing with them" said Harry, gloomily, coming down the stairs. "I just went through this discussion when I arrived. Hi Severus."

Krait looked around at assorted adults, the Weasleys, Alastor Moody, others she didn't know, Sirius looking mutinous but the rest nodding sagely. Her pale cheeks burned angrily.

"Fine, let the grown ups have their club of self congratulation" she snarled. "After all, none of them are the primary target like Harry is, and none of them save Severus writhes under the Cruciatus curse for the amusement of my father for saying the wrong thing or not agreeing fast enough! They can_ talk_ while the rest of us DO!"

She stormed towards the stairs while Molly said

"That's not entirely fair, dear….and nobody asked or expected you to go undercover…"

Krait turned.

"Except Severus, who at least has a realistic understanding of my capabilities….did I ask to be born the bastard brat of a Dark Wizard? No! but I am, and I have NEVER shirked my duties in my life…I grant that jaw-jaw is better than war-war, but it don't work with mad dogs like Voldemort!"

"Winston Churchill" murmured Severus, crediting the quotation.

"I warned you she has a temper" said Sirius. "I still think she and Harry should be admitted, as being under exceptional circumstances."

"And then how long will it be before the others start claiming exceptional circumstances?" snapped Molly.

"We appreciate your desire to protect your own offspring, Molly" said Severus, "But I agree with Sirius."

"Blimey! And the roof hasn't fallen!" muttered Ron.

"Are you calling me selfish?" asked Molly, eyes glittering.

"No, just a good mother….the thing boils down to whether we risk our near adult children to make sure that future children have a childhood….I think it was Neville who said that some lost their childhoods through Voldemort's actions, and it was up to them to make sure the kids now being born didn't lose theirs….deep lad Neville."

"Everyone knows what a cold fish you are though, Severus" said Arthur, angrily. "And it's not as though Krait were in truth your daughter…I swear you see her more as an asset!"

Severus changed colour several times but he spoke quietly enough.

"That's not true, Arthur, and a moment's reflection would show you it was an unwontedly unjust comment…but there is much to report, and I should like to get on with it. Krait will use such methods as she has to find out all she can; if that is incomplete and so risks her and the others by acting on incomplete information you may all congratulate yourselves that you did your best to kill them with ignorance."

"THAT's not fair either, Severus" said Arthur.

"It wasn't meant to be" said Severus. "YOU are just and kind to everyone. I on the other hand am spiteful and take a malicious delight in telling unpleasant truths….live with it. Good evening, my dear." He nodded to Krait and she waved a salute.

-/-

"At least he didn't split that you can find out everything" said Ron.

"He was pretty unkind to Molly" Hermione was censorious.

"Because he believes that leaving us in ignorance is dangerous" said Krait. "I think he was hoping to shock Molly into realising that. It won't work; she's locked into overprotective, seeing you all as children, not remembering that she was my age when she eloped from Hogwarts and that Bill was born six months later…. I did some checking of numbers" she grinned. "Harry, lovely to see you…did you slit up your palm to join with Ron and Hermy?"

Harry shook his head.

"Does everyone have to?"

"Dunno…but you're the focus, so I guess you ought to…get it done now while they're occupied downstairs and then we can episkey all of you. Now belt up the lot of you, I'm listening."

Harry blooded with his best friends while Krait rode in the sardonic thoughts of her lover. She reported how he had glossed over the Blood Group's action in France, leaving the impression it was in fact Von Strang who had attacked. The Order of the Phoenix were profoundly glad that the Death Eaters were not to be released yet; but Severus stressed that they should consider the event as 'imminent'.

"Wormtail is going out and about" he said "If only to get the Daily Prophet. And I feel that if people could keep an eye out for him, it might be possible to capture him that Sirius can be exonerated, so he can act openly….he's climbing the walls, even being able to be my faithful Alsatian."

"I never knew you were a metamorphagus too, Sirius" said the pink haired girl that Severus knew as Sirius' cousin, Nymphadora Tonks.

"I'm not…it's blood magic" said Sirius, shortly.

"You never let Harry go ahead with that?" Molly was distressed.

"Saved his skin from the ministry if not his life already" said Sirius. "The dementor attack – if Scales and I hadn't felt the blood scream we'd not have got there, and there'd have been a disciplinary hearing at the best for underage magic, with those bastards having it in for the boy; they'd have been trying to get him expelled, and in the meantime maybe it might even have led to a muggle getting kissed, even if he is the lousiest muggle in the world."

"When I got to the Ministry, Fudge was gleefully ordering Mafalda Hopkirk to have the boy informed that his wand would be summarily broken; he was acting under information from someone that Harry had cast HIS patronus, though we prevented it…there is spite there beyond anything even I am capable of" said Severus.

The others were much struck by the testimonies of Sirius and Severus. They were also struck by the fact that Sirius had dropped a light arm briefly about Severus' shoulders quite in the way he had been wont to do with James Potter; and by the fact that he referred to him by a nickname like the old marauders had done.

"So what does this blood magic do?" asked Arthur, inclined to be tolerant if it could mend rifts as deep as he knew had lain between Severus and Sirius.

"It creates a link….any one can feel if any other is hurt" said Severus. "It is possible to use Occlumency to block out one or more members of the link, one who is already hurt, say; Krait and I block off others when Fishface is in a bad mood. We can both resist the cruciatus curse adequately enough for what he considers fit discipline. He is disposed to be pleased with us though, so has only lashed out a couple of times." Krait clenched her teeth while she related this upstairs to the listening youths; they were not memories she enjoyed reliving, especially the time her father had used it on Severus to demonstrate only that whilst Severus might enjoy the daughter, the father had the whip hand. She found it easier to bear pain herself than watch her beloved suffer; and had taken all she could from him without showing anything and whilst shielding her baby; standing watching quizzically was the hardest thing she had ever done. She found herself saying this aloud to the others, and to her disgust tears flowed down her face. Hermione and Ginny both put their arms around her.

"Sorry…lost concentration" said Krait, surreptitiously squeezing the girls' hands as she swallowed her way back to composure in front of the boys again. "They're discussing the same old story of who might have sent the dementors. Severus is advancing our theory…" she explained it "And generally people agree. They're talking about coffee now….how ridiculous, to exclude us from a meeting which I could have given the main report for anyway….Severus is saying much the same thing…Molly is saying something about Sirius forgetting that Harry is not James and Severus is muttering that he's got a deal more sense and maturity than James…Molly's torn between defending James and not wanting to do down her favourite Harry…she's well flustered, what's going on in your household, Ron?"

"Percy" said Ron, succinctly. "He got promoted – which seemed well unlikely in light of having failed to notice Barty Crouch senior acting oddly after his son disappeared; but Dad reckoned he was being set to spy in our household because of Dad being close to Dumbledore and there was a row. And Dad never shouts" he added miserably "And Percy stormed out and said we spoiled all his chances because of Dad being a nut, and he was not our family any more, so Mum's pretty upset. I – I'd rather not talk about it, it's got the whole family jumpy."

"Git" said Krait. "He's the smarmy one who was all kiss-your-arse at Severus at Christmas?"

"That sums Percy up just nicely" said Ron grimly.

"Tell me about this Kreacher chap" Krait turned the subject.

"He's a nutter" said Ron disgustedly "Yeah, I know you want to protect him Hermione, but he's still a nutter – wants to have his head mounted on a board like his mother, or something."

"Yuk!" said Krait. "Yeah I saw heads on boards – all House elves? That's loathsome!"

"Quite" said Hermione. "It's not surprising he's a little unhinged."

"Hmm" said Krait. "Anyone legilimensed him?"

"What for? He's got to be loyal to Sirius, hasn't he?" said Ron.

"No, of course not! He has to be loyal to the Black family, and Sirius got disowned….don't forget there's Narcissa Black-Malfoy; and Bellatrix Black-Lestrange when she gets released from Azkaban. He might obey Sirius to the letter….but given half a chance, I wonder if he might not go to one of them….he's made no effort to clean this place or get rid of the obvious dark magics around which tells something of its own story. I need to get eye contact with this elf" she finished grimly.

"Easy enough…he creeps around spying most of the time" said Ron, shuddering. "Mum tries to be nice to him, but Padfoot just yells at him…."

"Now that's a mistake" said Krait. "The way you treat your underlings defines you….has he forgotten that?"

"I think Kreacher just gets on his nerves" put in Harry. "He gets on mine, but I'm not responsible for him."

-/-

There was a knock on the door, and when Hermione opened it, Severus was there.

"Are you coming with me, love, or staying here?" he asked Krait.

She slipped her hands into his.

"Such a hard choice….I want to come with you, of course, but there's so much I can fill Harry in about….can't you stay?"

"I prefer Fishface to think me spying only and unwilling to take food here as such….to be with your dear friend Harry and seeing what you could find out would be more convincing to him if he finds out, than if I were to stay….it is probably well."

"Can you ask if some of the elves will come and help? We could do with it."

"Certainly dear." He kissed her tenderly and left hurriedly.

Krait turned deliberately away.

"And one thing I can fill you in about is that daddy darling has been muttering about a new weapon" she said.

"Yeah, Sirius let that slip, but the other grown ups hushed him up pretty quick" said Harry. "I got told a little more, but not much. It seems like they reckon they have control of the weapon right now, maybe it's hidden at Hogwarts."

Krait gave him an impatient look.

"You poor prune, the weapon's you!" she said.

"What? How could I be a weapon for Voldemort?" he ignored the others' gasps.

"Because he has some of your blood….you get dreams off him, but he gets impressions off you. Obviously, it's why Dumbledore's avoiding you, because you still need more occlumency; and he's concerned, I bet, that Fishface might read his intentions through your eyes. When you're up to the standards Severus feels suitable, he can meet your eyes again, because masking off will be second nature. We have the advantage because you feel feelings from Fishface because of the blood freely given for OUR purposes….how can some adults be so plumb stupid not to let you know? They KNOW you bottle up anyway, keeping you ignorant of that could risk everything, specially as I bet you feel really resentful that you've not seen Dumbledore at all."

"Yeah" said Harry "I do."

"They don't want to scare him" said Hermione.

"An' don't call my mum stupid" said Ron.

"Alright….a little irrational then….I guess with Percy the Pompous Pain she has every right to be…not scare him. The boy's killed a basilisk, faced out Tom Riddle, got the Philosopher's stone, faced Hungarian Horntails, seen off dementors and fed Hagrid's blasted Pekes….what could be more scary than that catalogue?"

"Having your father tramping around in my mind does rather put the rest in the shade" said Harry with a weak grin "But I'd sooner know than be left in ignorance."

"Hell, yeah!" said Krait. "What you know you can guard against, prepare for….the unknown is what is so frightening. Severus'll see you well guarded, Harry."

"Yeah….it's good to be able to trust him at last" Harry smiled. "We can win this, can't we?"

"Of course….so long as we humour the elderly types and let them play their own games and dance their own dances and mesh what we do with them" said Krait. "They just feel that because they saved the world once, when they were barely older than we are now – Severus, Padfoot and your parents were only twenty one when you were born – it's up to them to do so again. But they don't have to. Time rolls round, and responsibilities pass. We need them as backup; but you're the principal, Harry, and you must choose your lieutenants, older or younger. You say jump, and we hit the air asking 'how high'."

"A couple of terms ago I'd never have been able to picture Severus in with that group jumping" said Harry. "But …it's hard to have to feel the centre of attention, I need help."

"It's what lieutenants are for" said Krait quietly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 Kreacher**

Sirri and Beloc were the two elves who arrived in front of Krait first thing next morning. Krait, predictably, was the first one up; and not knowing the neighbourhood she had been loath to undertake her usual run and had set out instead to clean house. They were proud in their new clothes, Beloc with black velvet knee breeches, silk stockings and black leather shoes, a ruffled silk shirt in dove grey above and obviously pleased with himself; and Sirri in a black velvet dress with asymmetric hemline and makeup mimicking Krait's own preferred Goth style.

"You both look fantastic! Are you all right to leave Mimi?" Krait addressed the question to Sirri.

Sirri beamed.

"I is just so happy to have my little girl safe….my place is helping YOU mistress"

"That's not necessary you know…" said Krait "Your place is learning to be free and happy."

"My sister means, we want to pass on what you have done for us…cleaning out dark magic might be a part of that" said Beloc. "Besides, we are curious about this dark house elf….he might talk to us."

"Talk?" Sirius' voice came from the doorway "He talks constantly…none of it flattering. Good to meet you two again."

Sirri and Beloc curtsied and bowed, respectfully but not, Krait was pleased to note, servilely.

"Hear you've forgotten your own tenets, Padfoot" she said laconically.

"What?" Sirius looked at her nonplussed.

"Wasn't it you that said you can tell a lot about a man from the way he behaves to his underlings? But I'm hearing you shout at Kreacher and treat him badly. NOT the way I'd expect you to act."

Sirius flushed dully.

"I know" he muttered "He – something about him gets so on my nerves, it- it – I can't really explain it; he seems to bring out all the anger in me."

"Padfoot; he may be jerking your strings on purpose. You must learn to conquer it as Harry had to learn to conquer fearing legilimensy with Severus. It's not you and it does not become you" said Krait firmly.

"I will try Krait; but when you see him you'll understand it better."

-/-/-/-

Kreacher was soon on the scene.

He slouched into the room muttering to himself.

"Mudbloods and traitors, werewolves and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what is he to do? Blood traitors and their brood, messing up my poor mistress' house…" plainly he was pretending not to see them.

"You must be Kreacher" said Krait crisply. The elf did a well simulated start.

"Oh, so sorry little mistress, didn't see you…Kreacher is wondering who you might be?" he added in an undertone "Another mudblood, no doubt, or blood traitor brat, all of them unnatural."

"Name's Krait Malfoy" said Krait quietly. The elf did a real double take at that and his ears went up.

"MALFOY!" he said in a tone of profound respect. "Malfoys often used to visit my poor dear mistress…what's a Malfoy doing in this house of blood traitors and stinking thieves?"

"Dung Fletcher does wiff rather, I grant you that" said Krait calmly. "Look at me, Kreacher". Her tone was imperative and involuntarily the repellent looking elf turned its sullen face towards her. Krait held his eyes. Then she turned to Sirius.

"You need to give this traitor very specific instructions, Padfoot" she said coldly. "He is planning on irritating you into telling him to get out; whereupon he will go straight to aunt Narcissa and tell her all your secrets."

The elf turned a baleful look on Krait.

"Miss Malfoy is a blood traitor too then" he said nastily.

"Lord, no, I'm part muggle" said Krait cheerfully. "My father's Voldemort and he's half bred. Suck THAT you treacherous little creep….your pure bred heroine kisses the robe of a half breed. Funny, ain't it?"

Kreacher gave her a look of despairing horror. Sirius was bellowing, he was too incoherent to understood, but his wrath was directed largely at the elf.

"Calm down or I'll bite you" snapped Krait.

Sirius broke off in mid bellow.

"With fangs?" he was taken aback.

"No….though it has been tempting at times to poison you a little bit….listen, you must order him to – to go to Hogwarts and work in the kitchen there, not to leave, and not to speak to anyone of what he has heard in this house; and not to harm or lie to you or any of your friends ever" said Krait. "I think that covers it all…he's little enough use here, he can be under Harry's protection at Hogwarts, so you can fulfil your obligations to him….you must never free him, whatever Hermione may feel, he's in a position to do too much harm. He will be safe there – and we will be safe from him."

"I shall" said Sirius grimly. "Kreacher – listen to your orders." He recited Krait's suggested orders. Kreacher gave a despairing wail and clicked his fingers to go where he was sent.

"Why the devil didn't you have Severus check him out first time he came here?" asked Krait irritably. "He's the finest legilimens I know."

Sirius shrugged.

"Didn't think of it I guess…it's an intrusion…..and he's only an elf, I didn't think…"

"And a traitor spying and passing on information isn't an intrusion?" she asked. "You have, I suppose the ingrained habit of despising house elves which I deplore; come into the modern era. Hermione is right in respect that he can't help it, he's been brainwashed all his life into believing what the noble family Black wanted him to believe…."

"_Stains of dishonour, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth…"_

Krait jumped and looked around.

"My dear old mum" said Sirius laconically going to pull back a curtain across a picture. "It's nailed to the wall…."

Krait viewed the repellent old woman in the portrait still screeching abuse.

"Turpentine" she said loudly. "I'll go buy a good big bottle….with enough elbow grease any painting can be reduced to canvas soon enough."

The portrait shut up in shock and stared. Sirius laughed.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because your family like all old families have their sacred cows, and portraits are one of them….she's more cow than sacred though" added Krait meditatively. "Keep it shut, madam, or find yourself wiped off and repainted with the blowsiest muggle whore I can lay my hands on."

Madam Black spluttered; but did no more than scowl malevolently.

-/-

Krait put aside her cleaning to get breakfast organised; to the delight of Molly Weasley who kissed her soundly, yesterday's quarrel quite forgotten. Krait hugged her.

"Ron and Ginny and the twins are dead lucky" she said. "Though I guess I'd baulk now at having to have a mum….but of course" she twinkled "I know well enough what you and Arthur were up to at EXACTLY my age…I'm a year older than Ron, so I guess you and I are destined to be friends…"

Molly looked at her suspiciously.

"My dear girl! You're not…"

Krait shrugged.

"Yes. And you are the one person that can't censure me for it."

Molly's face was a study; finally she laughed ruefully.

"No, I can't can I?" she said. "You are quite dreadful to have checked!"

Krait grinned impishly.

"Counter ammunition for the moans everyone will make….you'll back me, won't you Molly? We have to take what chance we can….in a year we might be dead."

"You poor child to even have to consider that….you're thinking more that Severus might die, aren't you, and you want a reminder?"

Krait blinked hard on tears.

"That crossed my mind" she said softly. "Also the other way round….if I am found out he still has the chance to claim I fooled him…."

"And if you think Severus will disown you, you wrong him" said Molly.

"I think he will continue to follow the primary objective" said Krait. "He might choose to suicide and follow me later….but protecting Harry and defeating my father are paramount…else what's the point in bringing children into the world?"

"IS he so cold blooded?"

"Cold blooded? Hardly. Pragmatic, yes. We do what has to be done."

Molly sighed.

"You scarcely sound seventeen."

"I never was that young since I could walk" said Krait a trifle bitterly. "You can never go back, Molly. Only take the best of the now; and pray for a brighter future. What did you say about doxies in the curtains?" she changed the subject.

-/-

With the aid of Sirri and Beloc, and without the hindrance of Kreacher, trying to salvage things Sirius was trying to throw away, cleaning went smoothly; and the curtains were readily de-doxified. Fred and George were less than helpful here, as they wanted live doxies for their venom as part of their skiving snackboxes; Krait threw up her hands at them and threatened to turn them into the sort of hairy little dogs that look like they ought to be attached to brooms as they'd be more use thereby; and the twins laughed and kept well out of her way! Sirri and Beloc were disgusted by Kreacher's neglect and promised to have things to rights in a trice. It was going to take longer than that, but certainly their efforts made a visible difference!

"Shows what proper house elves can do" approved Ron. "Hey, Beloc, want to come and work for us?"

Beloc grinned.

"Don't need to…your mum is efficient"

"So's Krait….revoltingly so."

Beloc beamed.

"But Mistress Krait offers danger and adventure…that suits Beloc…suits me more." He replied cheerfully. "We will always come to help out if your mother needs it…you has only to ask…but we stays with mistress Krait." He and Sirri had been warned not to mention the involvement of the Blood Group in their rescue; but his expression made clear to Ron and the others his gratitude, and his intent to offer his services to the Blood Group.

Ron grinned.

"Maybe you and Sirri ought to join the group….fully" he said.

Krait looked thoughtful.

"Something to be considered…..I'll need to go over it in full though and explain the risks" she said. "Good point, Ron…Sirri and Beloc can apparate where no human can….and our abilities will give them added protection…"

"We could then apparate within Hogwarts?" asked Hermione, catching on.

"Maybe….but I was thinking about their eyes and ears with closer connections to us through the blood….but perhaps you're right….they may not want to join." Said Krait.

"Join what?" Sirri was the one to ask.

Krait checked for adults.

"A blood group….blood magic."

"Isn't that dark magic?" asked Sirri doubtfully.

"Not if it's for mutual protection….it's to keep Harry Potter safe primarily."

"Ooh…that's important" said Sirri.

"I'm game" said Beloc. Sirri dug him in the ribs.

"You is game for anything!" she squeaked. Beloc gave Hermione an outrageous wink and the girl blushed indignantly.

"I am that!" the house elf agreed with his sister.

"Please don't tease Hermione" said Krait "She's an only child and has to put up with the Weasleys which is bad enough….think about it, you two, we won't proceed before we're back at school anyway."

Ron grinned slyly at Hermione.

"So nice to see house elves who aren't servile" he said. "He fancies you."

Hermione reddened again.

There wasn't a lot she could say, however!

Ron did not perceive Beloc in any way as an object for jealousy – and thought him a great good fellow to have managed to silence Hermione in her work for SPEW!

-/-/-/-

Krait stayed almost a week at Grimmauld place, helping to make it habitable; she had never imagined so many dark artefacts as they cleared out, including such as were hidden under the stove in Kreacher's filthy bed there. Sirri and Beloc were cheerful whenever people flagged; and the whole was accomplished with much good humour, especially on the part of the younger people for the knowledge that they were not being left out of what was going on! Krait watched with some amusement that Nymphadora Tonks had set herself to stalk the lugubrious Remus Lupin – she had heard so much about him from Harry and co she almost felt she knew him – and silently wished the girl luck with her chosen mate. Krait was pretty certain that Tonk's feelings were reciprocated, but that Lupin was trying to hide them, perhaps fearing that he was no fit husband for the vivacious girl. He was under obvious strain and looked older than his years; Sirius had muttered something about unfair Ministry edicts, which would presumably explain it, as if Lupin had ever asked to be a werewolf!

Krait enjoyed helping out, but was, however, glad to get back to Severus at Hogwarts – he had been to Spinners' End to check up there, but preferred the Scottish location for the health of the little ones – and they spent most of the rest of the holidays happily together until it was time to take David, Erich and Grace to London for their second year books; and to fully equip Abrax Malfoy and little Ellie, the half goblin David had promised to look out for. Krait's results arrived too; and she was delighted.

"Look at this…'Outstanding' in Potion Making and Transfiguration…'Exceeds Expectation' in Defence against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy and even a pass in Muggle Studies!" she said. "I could have got better if I'd done another year, but that's not bad…"

"Better than the Weasley Twins managed after five years" said Severus dryly "Though they DID take my advice to work hard enough to get E's for Potions….my own fault, I suppose for encouraging them."

She laughed and turned to the rest of her mail; for as well as the results her own booklist arrived, including 'Advanced Potion Making' by Libatious Borage.

"You'll use my old copy" said Severus. "It has my notes in…if you can bear the maudlin writings of a lad whose sense of identity was so poor he claimed to be the 'Half Blood Prince' as a joke on my mother's maiden name…"

"Dear heart….I know all about it" Krait reminded him. "And that your mother claimed to be descended from Richard the third, hence you being born with a slight hump back and club foot….St Mungos did a good job but it is suggestive that she may be correct….it's why a fifteenth century knight and prince was the first thing I thought of for a Patronus. I look forward to reading your notes and, no doubt, all your snide remarks too."

Severus laughed.

"How well you know me….aren't you going to open the little packet from Dumbledore that came with the booklist?"

Krait did so; and blinked to see a prefect's badge.

"Me? but I've only been here a year!" she said. "And I'm not a proper student any way… only sort of external…."

"And you've succeeded in settling my differences with Harry….and turning Draco into a decent lad, and bringing him into Harry's group of friends….and unterrorising Neville…. And nobody is supposed to know you're not a full time student."

"My! Am I such a busybody?" Krait chuckled. "Well if nosiness and well-meaning are criteria for prefects then I guess I fulfil them. What a responsibility!"

"You've been doing the job since you settled in anyway" said Severus dryly. "Draco will be the other Fifth form prefect in Slytherin….Harry's excluded as Dumbledore doesn't want to put too much on to him."

Krait snorted.

"Overprotective as always…. Dumbledore has no idea how much he manages to alienate the boy, so used to being snubbed and put down that he half expects it and cannot see any other explanation…..ah well, let's to London!" she threw up her hands in exasperation and shook her head in dismissal of what she saw as foolishness.

"Will you be able to manage do you think? Taking some lessons here and there and studying mostly on your own time as a kind of external student?" he asked.

"I'd prefer it actually" said Krait "I get to progress at my own pace; I've got to turn up in some lessons like any student to give me a reason to be at Hogwarts to be on hand to deal with darling daddy; but honestly I think I'd learn more in discussion with you and Minerva and Filius and reading. Only I MUST get some NEWTs if I'm to be in any way credible in helping to win the peace if we survive the war. And it takes my mind off it."

He nodded. His mercurial little love was so strong that it was easy sometimes to forget that she was also vulnerable.

"Moreover" he said "Albus has intimated that he wants you to appear a normal member of the fifth with Harry to most outward appearance; but Albus-like he has not actually said why."

"Typical" said Krait "I love Albus dearly but sometimes I think he has so many schemes and conspiracy theories boiling away in his head he's in danger of shooting himself with a counter-counter-counter spell."

Severus laughed.

"And half of me hopes you're wrong and I'm afraid the malicious part of me hopes I'm around to see it" he said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 Goblins? **

David hit it off straight away with Abrax, and volunteered to take him and meet Ellie whilst Grace and Erich were provided for. Sirri had found more negotiable items belonging to the late Comte; and urged Krait to use the proceeds to help with the care of the excess children she had. Krait had hesitated; but agreed. They would soon have more, since the muggle studies hobby group would be spending one weekend rescuing Erich's young siblings. She and Severus proceeded with Erich and Grace for their needs – and for her own books. She was studying some NEWTS and some OWLs, so her mix of books was eclectic!

Krait saw and waved to several people she knew, and spent ten minutes chatting amiably with Neville's formidable gran, who was astounded that she should not use her real name

"MY name is Augusta too" she announced.

"Ah, Madam Longbottom, you have never had the misfortune to have it mangled by muggle boys" said Krait cheerfully "It gave me a distaste for it…I bring it out and dust it off to use for best, but Krait shouts easier anyway, so Professor Snape prefers such in his ward."

"I'll give little Severus Snape shouting" said Augusta Longbottom grimly.

"He –he's okay, really, gran" protested Neville. "I – I really like him now."

"Down to YOU I hear, young woman" said Gran.

Krait grinned.

"I pulled apart a few misunderstandings….men need we women to keep them in order and keep them on the right track after all!"

"Hmmmph….that's true enough!" agreed Neville's gran!

A less pleasant encounter was with Pansy Parkinson.

"How come you get to be prefect?" she whined. "You've hardly been at school five minutes! It should have been mine!"

Krait looked at her critically.

"Parkinson, with your bad eating habits, your skin's not so good….it wouldn't take much to make it run the whole medical dictionary from acne to zits" she said conversationally. "With something for every letter in between…the reason you're really pissed is because you want to marry Draco and have a life of ease and luxury and I found you out for him….but his mother would never have it anyway, believe me. Narcissa would never countenance such a match and if you got him to run away, I swear she'd drown every puppy you produced."

Pansy gasped.

"First time you've been called a bitch in public, I dare say, Parkinson" said a Ravenclaw girl Krait knew only slightly who happened to be passing. "Malfoy, you really do sound like Snape."

"Thanks" said Krait cheerily.

-/-

When David arrived with Abrax and the stunningly pretty half breed girl they had another child with them. Following a little hesitantly but eagerly was a goblin boy with thin, intelligent looking features and a long, curious nose. His natural expression appeared to be mischievous but was subdued by apprehension.

"Severus, this is Kinat" said David earnestly. "His mother sounded off about him being bright enough for Hogwarts and wanted to know why he shouldn't go….so I thought you should test him."

Severus' eyes lit with unholy glee.

"And why not?" he murmured. "It'll set some cats amongst some pigeons….lad, you'll come against all manner of prejudice and unkindness and people will try to get rid of you and discredit you…I'll only accept you if you really are good – and I'll be sure you keep your long nose to the grindstone so none can say you don't deserve it. If you can bear that, I'll talk to Dumbledore. Goblins are forbidden to own wands; but there's nothing to stop the SCHOOL owning your wand and we wait for legislation to catch up with common sense."

Kinat grinned.

"I'm used to trouble" he said. "My parents can manage the fees….they'll have to scrimp to put all my brothers and sisters through, but if I've OWLS I can get a good job and help. I can do it, I'm clever."

"Take my wand and use _engorgio_ on that stone" commanded Severus. The boy did as he was bid; and the stone swelled respectably.

"He'll do" said Severus. "Get your parents to give you the money for your kit then, Krait and I'll accompany the lot of you weevilous bunch of first years to prevent any fuss in shops." He added "Ah, Ellie, Miss…?"

"Devlin, sir…Mother said it was better to use her human surname than my father's."

"Hmm, possibly so" agreed Severus. "Mr…."

"gan Konal" supplied Kinat

"Mr gan Konal will just have to live with it." Finished Severus. "Anyone who insists on being first at anything has to live with the consequences of the disbelief of the masses….and believe me the morass of the great unwashed in the Ministry are a mass and a half."

Kinat grinned.

"You ought to talk to my father sir….you sound a bit like him."

"Do I indeed? Then perhaps I should. You may furnish me with his address… I will wish to discuss your pending education with him in any case" he said.

-/-

There was little enough trouble over purchasing kit for the new children. Professor Snape's quelling eye froze any comments or outward prejudices any shopkeepers may have felt like displaying; and soon they were prepared for school. Abrax was happy enough to be friendly towards Ellie, but was particularly pleased to have a boy he knew going too. Soon they were swapping stories of their respective lives and the trouble they could get into at school – Abrax had been devouring every book on boys' boarding schools he could get his hands on – and Abrax had promised that they should take a side trip in London to get Kinat a skateboard. By the end of the day they were firm friends. Fortunately Ellie had taken a distinct shine to David; and he seemed equally taken with her.

"Love's young dream" chuckled Krait.

Severus looked startled.

"Aren't they a little young for that?"

Krait snorted.

"Ginny marked down Harry before she even got to Hogwarts, and she'll get him yet….If I'd seen you sooner I'd have marked YOU down sooner."

He looked startled; and she laughed up at him lovingly.

-/-

Before they left London, Krait and Severus had a quiet wedding with a special licence – forged – by muggle rules out of Casimir and Wendy's house with only their closest associates in attendance. They did not want to advertise their wedding to anyone in the Ministry, by marrying according to the Wizarding World rules; because that would be tantamount to telling Voldemort sooner or later. There was a full faith and credence clause that would accept their marriage certificate – when they chose to reveal it. And they were joined in a way more profound than any marital joining ritual. Arthur and Molly brought their offspring and Harry and Hermione – she and Ginny were bridesmaids with Jade, Lydia, Grace and Mimi–and Neville slipped away from shopping. Draco sent regrets; his family kept too close an eye on him to escape, but he wished the couple well. Remus Lupin wore dark glasses and brought Sirius on a harness – at Krait's suggestion – and Tonks had purple hair with pink streaks. Molly kissed Krait and wished her all the best; she and Wendy had sized each other up and were fast becoming firm friends and Arthur was hanging on Casimir's every word about how to live as a muggle, and was delighted to be invited to see how video recorders worked.

"That's dad kept out of trouble for a while anyway" grinned George (or Fred) irrepressibly.

Krait scarcely cared.

"You're mine, now, whatever happens" she said to Severus.

-/-

Getting their charges onto the Hogwarts express with all their packages was only mildly stressful. Draco arrived as Krait had hustled the younger ones onto platform nine-and-three-quarters and they embraced warmly.

"Say, what, a goblin in school uniform?" Draco was startled.

"Yeah, he's talented…he'll be the guinea pig, poor brat" said Krait. "He's made friends with our cousin Abrax, so likely they'll be in trouble regularly….bad Malfoy habit, gotta keep up tradition!"

Draco laughed.

"I've been doing a new voice" he referred to his talent for mimicry "I call it Lord Convolvumort" he lowered his voice "I thought we might have a talent show….but I'd need to be disguised, so father doesn't find out….it's awfully satirical."

"Nice!" approved Krait. "Do it for the blood group sometime….we can suggest more material as well for you maybe. I look forward to that, I love your voices."

"A truly egregious use of hyperbole, Miss Malfoy" said Draco in his best Snape voice. Krait chuckled.

"And you've even managed to swallow a dictionary since you last did that."

"No, I picked one up and opened it at random and wrote down some words that would suit the voice" he confessed.

"All good for your education….come on, we need to get to the prefects' carriage and do our duty to school and country!"

-/-

There was no Hagrid to take the smallest pupils across the lake; Severus had a shrewd idea that he had gone to talk to the giants on behalf of the Order; and Krait had passed that on to the others.

"Where's them weird horses come from?" Ron asked suddenly.

"What, the thestrals? They've always been there" said Krait looking where he was pointing between the shafts of the carriages.

"I see them. I always have" said the dreamy voice of a Ravenclaw girl in Ginny's class, Luna Lovegood. She had shared a carriage with Neville and Harry and Ginny.

"Why do I see them suddenly now?" persisted Ron.

"Because we've seen death now" said Hermione. "You can only see them once you understand death properly – from having seen it."

"I've always seen them too" said Neville. "Harry, can you?"

Harry shook his head.

"No….I'd have thought I would as my parents were killed in front of me…."

"You were too young to assimilate what it really meant" said Krait. "At least, I suppose that's why…..I suppose if you concentrated on thinking about it you might be able to see them….you might prefer not to. You'll see death soon enough, too many people will." They got into the carriages behind the thestrals and were whisked to the Castle.

-/-

The Castle ghosts were not sure what to make of a goblin in the midst of the other children. Nearly Headless Nick was quite snippy; and Kinat said,

"Keep your hair on, mate, it wasn't goblins that topped you, was it? You got no call to have a down on us!"

This made Nick a little huffy but he shuffled and muttered knowing that Kinat was right. The Grey Lady affected to have hysterics, the Fat Friar tried to make a charitable comment which did NOT however end with a hope that the boy would be a Hufflepuff; and the Bloody Baron glared until Kinat said,

"Wotcher, Sir Edward!" having heard about him from a brief meeting with Jade and Lydia. As the goblin boy seemed on excellent terms with an obvious Malfoy, the Bloody Baron nodded to him curtly which made several of the other children blench and move slightly further away from Kinat.

The Hat waxed lyrical on the joys of interhouse co-operation and the need to be strong and work together with a longer song then usual before the business of sorting began; firmly explaining the history of the qualities each house looked for but that the original founders had been friends, saying that with external foes the need to co-operate had never been greater. This caused no little stir; the hat had never given advice before. And then the sorting began. Kinat and Abrax were both sorted into Gryffindor, and so was Ellie; the cheers for Kinat were a little sporadic, but David cheered loudly and so did Harry's crowd. That Harry was treated with a circumspection bordering on fear, especially by some of the younger ones obviously hurt the lad; and Krait pursed her lips. Erich was soon also in Gryffindor, and Draco whispered to Krait

"A Malfoy AND a Snape in Gryff? Hardly bears thinking about! Did the hat get it right?"

"I'll say…..did you notice how much longer its song was, about dark times, and greater cooperation being needed? Time to end House rivalry it means, to put it aside for the greater good….we already did, and Slythers and Gryffs got the greatest rivalry of all, it's why they stick us opposite ends of the Hall. Our cousin in Gryffindor is a good sign for cooperation and we push that…like we don't let anyone play racism with Ellie and Kinat…there's a good bunch in the second to help lead the first in Gryff, David, Erich and young Creevey….those three should quosh any daft rumours about Harry too. I'm interested in who the new professor is, the one who looks like someone's maiden aunt who was on the wrong end of a transfiguration spell into a bullfrog."

The woman was unmistakable from Krait's description….she had curly mousey hair with a ribbon in it, an unfortunate cardigan and very protuberant eyes. Draco grinned; but then Dumbledore was addressing the school, passing quickly over the replacement of Hagrid with Professor Grubbly-Plank

- "Who can at least teach" murmured Krait -

Dumbledore frowned mildly at her and went on to introduce Madam Umbridge as new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; he was about to talk about Quidditch trials when the bullfrog with a ladylike and high pitched _hem hem_ actually had the temerity to interrupt and proceeded to give a speech. Dumbledore looked taken aback but sat down as though there was nothing wrong after the third _hem hem_; and Krait listened attentively. Dumbledore would never have taken that level of contumely if there was not something behind the appointment of this woman.

Her breathy, high-pitched little girl voice grated on Krait; and in her mind rose a picture of Sister Julia, second only to Sister Agatha in cruelty, who had just such a gushing manner and giggled wildly whilst orphans were being whipped or punished. Krait glanced around and saw most people dismayed at being addressed like five-year-olds; but they had looks ranging from boredom to contempt on their faces. Only David and Harry seemed to detect the menace Krait felt; and Hermione was listening intently with a more objective and intelligent response than Krait herself felt. Hermione's calm was helpful; and Krait fixed herself to listen, poking Draco and urging him to attentiveness too. She was glad she did. As the little platitudes expecting to be the greatest of friends and praising the treasure trove of magical knowledge slipped by such phrases as 'progress for progress sake must be discouraged' and 'pruning wherever we find practises that ought to be prohibited' came to light. Draco, bored at first, was now sitting up listening carefully. As the speech ended and Dumbledore clapped – the staff clapped quite reluctantly, Severus and McGonagall actually together in a slow hand clap – the head resumed his speech about Quidditch tryouts. Hermione was obviously explaining to her own set and Draco and Krait exchanged speaking glances with her across the room. Then the feast was over and they were busy showing first years to their dormitories and the common room. All the juniors were very much in awe of the fifth formers; two of the little girls seemed hard faced already, but a dark haired girl grinned at Krait shyly; and Krait smiled back. The boys seemed to have sorted themselves already into a gang; one of the lads bore a resemblance to the little girl with the grin, but he looked grim faced and was slight in build and far from healthy looking. Krait wondered if Severus had looked so, joining a gang rather than be picked on; and resolved to interfere if she could. That he was pushed hard and told 'not to let the family down' by one of her least favourite lower sixth members, a boy called Mordred Lestrange-Symond explained much. Romulus Lestrange Symond was a dark-haired lad as well as distinctly weedy; his brother was big, blondish and beefy. The contrast was as marked as between Harry and his cousin Dudley.

Krait sighed.

Being a prefect was going to mean she had to get involved in such problems.

She sighed again.

Not being a prefect would have been unlikely to have stopped her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 Umbridge**

Krait did not attend Defence Against the Dark Arts with the others, having already passed the OWL; Severus had set her work for the NEWT class as Dumbledore seemed to be quite happy for him to continue her private lessons. She heard about it from Draco later.

"The Umbridge woman is foul….we're only to study THEORY, and when Harry pointed out that there was danger in the real world, the danger of –of Fishface she called him a liar….he's got a detention! And she told us to tell her if we heard anyone spreading stories that Fishface was back! She couldn't be a Death Eater, could she?"

Krait looked thoughtful.

"I don't think so…..Daddy-dearest would have crowed about getting one of his own wished onto Dumbledore I guess" she said. "It's the head-in-the-sand brigade….Draco, she scares me."

"She SCARES you? She's a silly old bat even if she does have the backing of the ministry!" said Draco.

"No….she's cruel…I recognise the type. Did you pipe up?"

"Too right I did….I asked what we were to do if we only studied theory if there were any more loose dementors got out like the ones that went after Potter in the holidays and she told me that I'd been listening to fairy tales. Harry got mad, and shouted at her, 'cos he's not got that much sense; and that was when she sent him to McGonagall. He said she fed him biscuits and told him to keep his mouth shut."

"MCGONAGALL said that? She must be scared too….what the blue blazes does the ministry think it can do, interfering like this? I bet we swell the ranks of the outer circle of the muggle studies hobbies group if she's not teaching any spells….Severus is a swell teacher."

"I came up with an idea too" said Draco. "You know there's no counter to Avada Kedavra?"

"Yeah" said Krait. "You got one?"

"No….but I asked my dad to explain how it worked in the hols – I was bored – and I kind of twisted it." He pointed his wand at Krait.

"_Avocado Kedavra!" _he shouted. There was a green flash, and Krait felt a tingle wash over her. her hands when she glanced down were avocado green and Draco was grinning.

"Am I the same colour all over, you horrid boy?" she asked without rancour.

"I guess….bet you don't feel like stripping to check though."

"No I don't….if it has the same basis I have no counter, though Mandragora juice should work as a restorative…can you take it off?"

Draco nodded and flipped his wand at her.

"No problem – with the same caster and the same wand. Only as the form's the same, I wondered if we could experiment counters to that – it might work,"

"No harm trying" said Krait. "Ah, glad to get over that little bout of colour….or even choler."

-/-

The next lesson Krait shared with her friends was Care of Magical Beasts; they studied Bowtruckles, and whilst Krait was concerned about Hagrid she did so much more enjoy Madam Grubbly-Plank's lessons. Moving on to Herbology they met Ginny's class leaving; and Luna Lovegood embarrassed Harry mightily by pledging her rather dubious support for him, claiming that people used not to believe in the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-horned Snorcrack. As Hermione pointed out there were no such things, and that Luna as the daughter of the editor of the _Quibbler_ only believed things that were unproven this was very little help. Ernie MacMillan's loud and rather pompous support of Harry was another matter, and stopped Lavender Brown from sniggering. Krait was about to make a rude sign at the girl when she remembered it did not become the honour of a prefect and cursed quietly to herself instead. Draco went over to Ernie.

"In view of what the hat said, MacMillan, and in the interest of inter-House cooperation I'd like to shake your hand." He stuck forward his hand.

Ernie took it warily.

"What are you up to, Malfoy?"

"Potter's a friend of mine…it's taken a while for him and me to see past differences; but I think we all appreciate your gesture….you're Hufflepuff, that's three houses we can say have cooperation, wouldn't you say? You're not ill respected amongst your peers."

Krait reflected that it was a nice choice of words. Ernie was too pompous to be well liked; but nobody would give him disrespect.

Ernie smiled slowly.

"An excellent summation, Malfoy" he said, and shook hands firmly.

-/-

Harry's detention with Professor Umbridge made an immediate impression with the blood group. He had asked nicely if he might change the night of his detention since the Quidditch trials for a new Keeper were under way; but she refused, smiling widely as though, Harry later described it, she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly.

"Oh, no" she said "Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading, nasty, evil, attention seeking stories Mr Potter and punishments cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience." She added that it was a good thing that he was missing something he enjoyed as it would reinforce the lesson she wanted to teach him.

Harry controlled himself with difficulty and she smiled with a saccharine smile and said how much better he was already controlling his temper.

She set him lines 'I must not tell lies'; and handed him a long black quill with an unusually sharp point.

"How many times?" Harry asked.

"Oh as long as it takes for the message to sink in" she said sweetly "Off you go."

She went to sit down and Harry realised there was something missing.

"You haven't given me any ink" he said.

"You won't need ink" there was half a laugh in her voice. Harry wondered if it had an ink chamber like muggle pens and started to write 'I must not tell lies'.

He gasped in sudden pain; the lines appeared on the parchment in shiny red ink and the same words appeared at the same time on the back of Harry's hand cut into the skin as though traced with a scalpel; and healed right over again as he looked leaving the place slightly redder than before but quite smooth.

He resisted the temptation to glance up, knowing that she wanted him to, wanted to gloat, knowing that she was smiling with her slack, toadlike mouth. He could take the cruciatus curse; he would affect not to even notice. He wrote on.

The minute Dolores Umbridge's cruel punishment pen grooved magically into the skin of Harry's hand as he wrote on the parchment the group collectively jumped. Ron precipitately left the Quidditch trials ignoring the protests of Angelina Johnson; and there was a crowd collected in Myrtle's loo by common consent.

"What's she DOING?" asked Ron.

"I don't know" said Severus grimly "And he's blocking now too, foolish boy….ah…" he broke through Harry's block and watched with hooded eyes as the words 'I must not tell lies' sprang up in blood on the back of his own hand.

"How – what?" Hermione was startled.

"An enchanted pen….I've heard of such things" said Severus grimly.

"Isn't it dark magic?" asked David, horrified. He too had deserted the Quidditch pitch.

"I'm going to kill her!" growled Sirius angrily, making for the door.

"Sit down, Padfoot….you'll only put yourself back in Azkaban and Harry in worse trouble" said Severus. Sirius growled irritably but complied. Severus put a hand on his shoulder.

"We got three choices" said Krait. "First; let it happen, and decide later what to do about her. second; take all the wounds between us, she'll see he isn't touched, and make like he can't be hurt by anything – which might rock her, whatever side she's on; third we send someone in as an emissary and reverse the charm on the quill."

"Any ideas how?" asked Draco.

"One I was thinking of using against your new spell….it occurred to me that _speculum_, a mirror, should reverse a spell in the caster's face."

"Enchantment's a little more complex than normal charms" said Severus.

"I know….it's why I wondered if, say, you should go, to ask when Potter would be free to do your detention…..you understand enchantment, don't you?"

Severus grinned savagely.

"Oh yes….it would be easier if I knew the time and date it was made, but I'm sure I can prevail on the dratted thing to obey me….IF the lot of you concentrate your blood on mine and aim power at me."

"It will be so" said Krait solemnly. "Ladies and gentlemen….let us synchronise our heartbeats if we can."

Gradually Myrtle's loo was filled with the deep thrumming of ten synchronised heartbeats as Severus went in search of Madam Dolores Umbridge and her prey. Blood spurted rhythmically in tiny drops from each as they took Harry's pain and wounds in order to confound Madam Umbridge.

-/-

Umbridge was examining Harry's hand when Severus knocked and walked in. she seemed baffled that there was not the least trace of redness.

"Ah, Madam Umbridge, when will Potter be free for MY detention?" drawled Severus in a bored voice. "Lines he's doing? How many? Surely he must be finished soon?"

"He will stay here until he gets the point" said Umbridge "Night after night if necessary."

"How nice for you to be able to consider teaching such a rest cure that you can give up so much time for Potter's much needed correction" said Severus sarcastically. "Oh, of course, I forgot, you're not supposed to teach like the rest of us are you….only to read out of a book."

Umbridge flushed.

"I work as hard as anyone, Professor Snape" she hissed.

"Indeed?" he raised an eyebrow. "If you say so….no need to stop writing Potter, keep at it, I want that point made so I can have you in my dungeon within half an hour. I believe I shall wait here for him, Dolores, to make sure he gets there."

"Yes Professor Snape" muttered Harry. The pain was blocked…..what was Severus up to?

The sharp cry from Professor Umbridge shocked Harry and he glanced up. She was staring at the back of her own hand. Snape was giving him a sardonic look.

"Get ON with it Potter" Severus said. Harry bent assiduously to his writing and had the satisfaction of seeing horror cross Umbridge's face. "He's a contumelious boy" Severus remarked conversationally to the toad like teacher. "Just because he had a blood pact upon him when he was a baby and can reflect or negate Dark Spells he seems to think he's something special…..what ever is the matter? Are you all right, Dolores?"

"I'm fine!" she snapped. "Potter, that will do….go with Professor Snape. I hope you get more out of his detention than you are out of mine!"

Harry obediently followed Severus.

"Thank you sir" he said soberly. "I'm sorry the others got hurt…."

"It's what we're for….to protect you" said Severus grimly. "And oh my goodness is there power to back a single focus when everyone synchronised heartbeats."

"Sir? Severus?" Asked Harry. Severus grinned.

"I was the focus….for a heady moment I knew I could turn her inside out and throw her to Land's End wrapped in her own guts….we reversed the charm on the pen. She can unreverse it - no mean feat with the power I tied into it – or give that up as a failed punishment" he said with grim satisfaction.

"So – Ron missed the Quidditch tryouts?" Harry was disappointed for his friend.

"Yes, and David….Angelina Johnson will have an inadequate team, but better for Gryffindor to lose the Quidditch cup than for Hogwarts to have its last best hope stupefied from pain and tiredness from such punishment night after night….such she intended, I read it in her mind" his voice was still grim. "She's also got a down on part humans….she drafted legislation last year against werewolves that make it impossible for Moonie Lupin to get a job….I fear it was a bad time for Ellie and Kinat to start."

Harry gasped.

"We can't let her do that to them, they're only babes!"

Severus gave his grim smile again.

"Her brief was to silence you first…I fancy she'd have started on them next. But her pen is sabotaged."

"What if she enchants another?"

"A good question…" they turned into the dungeon, where the rest of the blood group had come to Severus' mental summons through Krait. "She must be got rid of."

"I suggested killing her and you vetoed it" said Sirius.

"I still veto it" said Severus. "If she dies we have given the Ministry the excuse they need to crawl all over us. We should find a way to make her leave that will cover her and the ministry in embarrassment."

Krait frowned.

"We're certain she's not a Death Eater?" she said.

"Death eaters don't have a monopoly on nastiness" said Sirius.

"But if she were convicted of being one…." Said Krait.

"How?" Severus was sceptical.

"Leave that to me….when HE examines me, sometimes he leaves portions of his mind open….I've been exploring, hoping to find about horcruces….I found some interesting stuff." Krait grinned wickedly. "I'm coming to your next Defence Against Dark Arts Class…then we shall see. And we really need to get Wormtail followed….Sirius, Nymphadora's an auror, isn't she?"

"Yes…and Kingsley Shacklebolt, he's supposed to be tracking me down, he's keeping people off the scent." Said Sirius. "So what?"

"Let them leak the idea that they suspect YOU of killing the muggle in Little Hangleton" said Krait, excitedly "And go investigate….surely they'd be capable of coming across Wormtail and arresting him? If not, it would force Fishface to move base, somewhere where Wormtail must go out more to get things sorted, and then he could be discovered….if the Ministry has a double whammy of harbouring a Death Eater and sending her to teach school AND your conviction proved false, won't that give Dumbledore the ammunition to appoint whoever he damn well pleases as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?"

"And who do you think that will be?" Sirius asked half dangerously, his eyes narrowed.

Krait stared.

"Why, you of course, you great clot!" she said in astonishment. "Then you can protect Harry openly too."

"I thought you were going to suggest Scales" said Padfoot, restored to equanimity.

"Your paws are too clumsy to be any good at potions" said Krait cheekily, winking at him. "We need both of you to train us in the Muggle Studies Hobbies group…you're good enough to duel as demonstration without seriously getting hurt. But we can't do that either until you're exonerated."

"It's complex…yet it has a simplicity that means there's not too much to go wrong" said Severus. "I like it. Give it another week, though….let her feel settled. And the aurors a chance to do their jobs. If we have to wait too long for Sirius' justification we may find ourselves with another Ministry spy….and getting rid of two would look suspicious."

Krait nodded.

"As my Domine commands…" she peeped up at him through her lashes, and he swallowed hard.

"C'mon people, let's leave the lovebirds to it" said Draco "They make me quite embarrassed."

"What?" said Ron.

"Weasley, permit me to explain to you about the birds and the bees…." Draco drew him out and Krait heard him lapse into his 'Severus lecturing' voice.

She waited until the room emptied and put her arms about her beloved.

" We can do it – with excellent timing….and of course constant vigilance" she grinned.

"DID you ever hide knickers around my dungeon for Moody to find?" he asked.

"Of course….several of mine, a pair of McGonagalls tartan bloomers, one of Madame Maxime's and for good measure some of Filch's."

Severus roared with laughter and slapped her lightly across the backside.

"DREADFUL girl….no wonder he gave me funny looks at the Order meetings!" he chuckled.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 Taking Umbridge**

During the week, Harry's scar hurt him; and he passed the information on, and that he had a most peculiar sensation about his midriff. He was in detention with Umbridge, but writing ordinary lines. As she had been deprived of the chance to hurt him, she seemed content to exhaust him instead; and the Blood Group manfully sustained him. (Krait had Sirri speak firmly to Hermione about the excess of caps she was knitting for elves, exhausting herself knitting half the night; and explain that Dobby was hiding them and doing all the work to clean Gryffindor Tower because the other elves were too offended. Sirri had begged Hermione not to give free house elves a bad name by making them look like freaks and thereby lowering the chances of persuading others to freedom. Hermione seemed to take it to heart and was at least now more alert.)

"We can't know what it means" said Krait "But I suspect being in detention was a coincidence. You don't pick up other Death Eaters…only Fishface."

"He was….happy" said Harry. "something pleased him." He frowned. "I…I think I can work out what he feels like…..he was angry about something, it was over Von Strang in the holidays…."

"That's good. Keep sensitive….and keep at the occlumency" said Krait. Harry nodded.

"Umbridge may be a pain but at least I don't fear that, or potions any more" he said. "I'm starting to enjoy myself."

"So am I" said Severus dryly. "You're getting quite competent." He added "Lily was very good… I can tell you that now without it hurting and be glad that you've inherited her skill."

Harry smiled at him and touched his arm in a comradely gesture. Sometimes words were too much; and not enough.

-/-

The conspirators read with dismay that Sturgis Podmore, a member of the Order of the Phoenix had been charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of magic; and refusing to speak on his own defence was given six months in Azkaban.

"Why? Just for trying to get through a door?" Harry wondered. Krait said

"Ah"

"What?" asked Hermione.

"Myrtle's loo" said Krait.

-/-

Severus and Sirius did not come to the impromptu meeting.

"They aren't supposed to tell us that the Order is guarding the Department of Mysteries" Krait said. "Fishface wants to read the whole prophesy about Harry and it's stored there…..Severus overheard part of it. It's what he told Fishface when he was still a Death Eater, the stuff about being born end of summer, parents defying Fishface three times and so on….the thing that could apply to Harry or Neville."

"I – I'm no prophesy" said Neville.

"I guess not….or Dumbledore would tread around you like you were glass the way he does round Harry" said Krait. "Which must be to do with what else Trelawney said."

"TRELAWNEY? That old fraud?" Hermione scoffed. "She couldn't prophesy that Spring follows Winter."

"She did – once" said Krait. "That's why Dumbledore hired her….whatever she said after Severus left must be the bit that convinced Dumbledore it's Harry….My father would doubtless love to get his hands on the rest."

"So would I" said Harry tensely "To see if it gives me any idea what I have to do."

"Well I don't think we can break into the Ministry….Jumping Jehosophat!" shouted Krait.

"What?" several people demanded.

"Trelawney can't remember….but it must be locked in her subconscious somewhere….if we could download her seer files into the Pensieve…or legilimens her…." Krait was excited.

"She'll never put her memories in the Pensieve" said Harry. "And she loathes you, remember? You told her Severus thought Divination was a pile of shit."

"Never in such vulgar terms, horrid boy!" grinned Krait. "But if I seemed to have a vision, wouldn't she come and stare at me?"

"That's brilliant!" said Ron. "You're free that period too."

"I am….I could come up with a message, stare at the crystal ball, croak a few words of rubbish and fall on the floor….she'd be bound to come and peer at me. But let's get our other little problems sorted first."

The others agreed.

"HALF our problems are Fred and George" said Hermione, grimly "Trying to poison first years with their damn skiving sweeties."

"Abrax and Kinat got their revenge I gather" said Krait, mildly. "They got a muggle can of soup and one of carrots and mixed it all up in a plastic bag each; and pretended to be horridly sick one over each twin with their imitation puke."

"That's wonderful!" laughed Hermione "If only they don't grow up to be just as bad!"

"No, they've a healthy respect for getting good marks" said Krait. "They're holding their own against the Slytherin gang of four….they'll be fine, once She-who-must-be-obeyed is gone."

"Don't you mean She-who-must-not-be-named?" chuckled Harry.

Krait considered; and sighed.

Fred and George needed to be told certain things.

-/-

"I'm sure you consider yourselves the heirs of the Marauders as you found the Marauders' map" said Krait.

"Well rather" said Fred – or George.

"Right down to turning into a pair of fine little bullies?" said Krait scathingly. The twins stared at her with open mouths.

"What do you mean?" demanded George – or Fred.

"Well your japes and pranks strike me often enough as cruel and bullying" said Krait coldly "And your skiving snacks are NOT funny, especially for the poor brats who expect to get apparent symptoms without actually being ill. And you make game of the weak by teasing them to the point you reduce them almost to tears; in my book that's a pretty good definition of Dolores Jane Umbridge or any other kind of bully. The original Marauders japed, jinxed and teased enough people that at least two joined the Deatheaters as the only way they could think of to empower themselves against the jolly bullies of Gryffindor. Do YOU want to swell the ranks of Fishface by being such egregious little gits? No, I thought not. Now please stop making Harry's task harder by antagonising people who WILL judge a man by the company he keeps; and try to behave as though you are members of the human race not Umbridgiensis nonsentionis."

"Do you really think we bully?" Fred and George spoke in unison, hurt.

"Yes I do" said Krait "And if I were you I'd go and talk about it to Sirius who has been there and done more than was proper."

They nodded seriously. The idea of being accused of being bullies was shocking enough to briefly make them almost sobered.

Especially to be compared to Umbridge, who had Kinat and Ellie scared for the way she taunted them for not being real scholars; she refused to mark any of their work and set them detentions nightly cleaning the floor in the Defence classroom; and the twins had heard about this from David Fraser who had been furious. David had not troubled Krait and Severus since they had enough to do protecting Harry; but he had enlisted the aid of the twins, who had – predictably – plenty of polyjuice potion already prepared and who had arranged that they and David, Erich, Dennis Creevey and Grace should take turns taking the place of the younger children. And THAT was what being a Marauder should be about, Fred later said to George; challenging officious authority by making a fool of it. Not being the ones to bully.

-/-

The next unpleasantness was a letter to Ron from his brother Percy, telling him in one sentence that he was proud he had been made a prefect, and in the next to sever ties with Harry and talk about him to the 'most delightful' Dolores Umbridge. It was a long and unctuous letter suggesting Harry to be violent and Mr and Mrs Weasley to be associated with criminals – Sturgis Podmore being cited by him – and saying that he fully hoped for a full apology from his parents one day! He also related the news that Potter's precious godfather was suspected of muggle killing no less! Ron was disgusted and tore the letter into little pieces.

"At least our story about Sirius worked. And you gotta feel sorry for Percy" said Krait. Ron stared.

"Why? He's the world's greatest git!" he said.

"Yeah…it's one reason to feel sorry for him….and the fact that he's made himself that way by being secretly, all his life, I bet, ashamed of your parents just because they're poor…he's tried to distance himself from that, and them, and the fact that your dad is really interested in muggles because he's the only person in the ministry with the sense to see we share a world with them…and in distancing himself he's lost all his sense of values and all his sense of self worth, because all he's ever been is a yes-man to people in power that he feels can give him more than your parents….in spurning them he's convinced himself it is they who let HIM down. I'm sorry for him. I'm sorry he's a git. It won't stop me doing him a bad turn if I get the chance." She finished.

"That's the vindictive Krait we know and love" grinned Ron. He had had the grace to look uncomfortable when Krait had spoken of being ashamed of his parents' poverty, but had regained his aplomb!

-/-

It was the next Defence Against the Dark Arts class that Krait attended.

"I don't believe I've seen you before, have I dear?" asked Professor Umbridge. Calling people dear in her saccharine way was one of her less attractive mannerisms.

Krait smiled brightly.

"I came to Hogwarts late, so I'm doing sundry classes to catch up" she said cheerily. "I'm supposed to be studying NEWT in Defence, but I have to fit in the OWL classes I'm doing too. I've been set work."

Umbridge frowned.

"By whom? I am defence against the dark arts teacher!"

"Oh, I was having private tutoring to catch up…I did catch up, but what with one thing and another….." the Umbridge woman had approached Krait's desk by now; and the girl affected to gasp. "Why, Professor, what's that on your arm?" quickly she reached out a hand to Umbridge's plump left forearm, encased in pink fluffy wool, a hiss of apparent concern leaving her lips…the Parselmouths looked up quickly and then away as they heard muttered speech in it. Umbridge cried out, and Krait grabbed her wrist.

"It's Morsmorde! The dark Mark!" cried Draco, well primed. He ran to hold Umbridge. Krait pulled up the woolly sleeve, and the robe beneath; and there, angry and red, stood Morsmorde in all its melodramatic glory, the skull with serpent creeping from its maw.

"Get Professor Dumbledore, MacMillan!" called Draco. "He'll believe you when you say what you've seen…" Ernie gawped at the dark mark and ran off to find the headmaster. Krait levelled her wand at Umbridge; others followed suit.

"I – this is ridiculous! Get back to your places immediately!" screeched the witch. "You are all in detention….I will reduce it for anyone who sits down immediately!"

Some of the tamer elements made to return to their places and Hermione turned furiously on them.

"You'd let a Death Eater get away with it and carry on teaching? How could you?"

There were uncomfortable murmurs.

"Why…why would a Death Eater be here?" asked Lavender Brown.

"To target Harry of course!" said Hermione triumphantly. "She's had a down on him from the first as you all know….it's proof that he's telling the truth about Fishface not being dead….and I reckon it shows he's not only not dead but fit and well and ready to act!"

Krait was startled; but it was a reasonable assumption to draw….and people would need to know soon after all. That Hermione Granger had made the assertion, a partisan of Harry's meant that her father could be persuaded that Granger sounded off in the dark or was intelligent enough to guess he'd not remain static.

Dumbledore turned up at that moment, a panting Ernie MacMillan behind him. Pompous Ernie might be; he didn't intend to miss anything however.

"Dolores! I'm shocked" said Dumbledore.

"Shocked? Well you might be, headmaster!" she spat the words. "These…these obstreperous children have run riot on the say so of the brat who is holding me and who claims to be studying NEWTS….she has cast some illusion on my arm of morsmorde! I will see her expelled for this, Dumbledore!" she was almost frothing at her wide, slack mouth. Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione looked at Krait in some horror.

Dumbledore flicked his wand at the mark.

"_Dissilusibus_" he said. Hermione was holding her breath. Krait however looked supremely unconcerned.

The mark remained. Dumbledore pursed his lips.

"It does not appear to be an illusion" he said coldly. "Let us try the revalaspell…_Specialis Revelio!"_

There was a band of light from his wand to the mark, travelling across it; and Dumbledore recoiled slightly.

"You need hide your status no longer, Dolores" he said icily. "That truly is the Dark Mark."

"SHE put it there!" claimed Umbridge.

"Miss Malfoy? How? Such a mark can only be placed on the arm by Voldemort himself…it is his way of marking his servants that cannot be duplicated" said Dumbledore angrily. He turned and surveyed Krait thoughtfully. "Nobody has ever been able to duplicate it….the ministry tried, to infiltrate groups of Death Eaters….without success. You are surely not suggesting that a teenage witch can succeed where the ministry failed? I hardly think anyone would believe THAT."

Krait avoided Dumbledore's eye and looked scared and miserable. It covered her elation. If Dumbledore could not tell, surely nobody at the Ministry could!

Dumbledore sighed.

"We appear to be without a Defence teacher again" he said. "Pray finish whatever work you have been set…Miss Malfoy, did Professor Snape set you some advanced work?"

Krait nodded.

"Yes, sir. Sir, I could take the first and second years while you search for another, to relieve Professor Snape while he fills in if you like….I can fit it into my curriculum."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"I'll bear that in mind…what would you teach?"

"Definitions, recognition of Dark Creatures and protego" she said readily.

He nodded.

"Reasonable at that level…run to Professors Snape and McGonagall now, child, and ask them to help me subdue this dangerous criminal to relieve the children…do not let your guards down, now, class."

Krait nodded and ran. She knocked first on the dungeon door.

-/-

Severus looked up irritated at the knock interrupting him. He was –as Krait described it – persecuting first years with bubotuber pus for skin clearing potions.

"What is it, Miss Malfoy?" he asked.

"Sir, Professor Dumbledore asked your help in subduing a dangerous criminal" she said.

"Oh very well….you'd better stay and sort out these dunderheads" he said fretfully.

"He asked me to get Madam McGonagall as well" she said.

"I'll get her…you stay here" he said.

Krait surveyed the class serenely.

"I see few of you manage to grasp the finer points of the subtle art of potion making" she said in such a creditable copy of Severus' tone that Abrax was overcome by a fit of laughter he stifled in a cough. "What a nasty cough, Mr Malfoy…fortunately Professor Snape keeps medicine for those who suffer from such unfortunate ailments" she said blandly; and proceeded to dose her young cousin from a bottle with a tonic that tasted – Abrax later swore – as though all the old socks lost since the beginning of the century had been boiled in it.

"That'll show the Goblin lover!" said Romulus Lestrange Symond loudly.

Krait smiled sweetly.

"Do you know" she said, conversationally "One thing I really hate is racism. You may apologise, Mr Symond."

"I don't believe I shall" said Romulus.

Krait shrugged; and the boy rose from his desk and there in mid air transformed into a large and wriggling woodlouse.

"You may stay there until you are ready to apologise to Mr Malfoy, Mr Konal, Miss Devlin; and to myself for interrupting my pearls of wisdom" said Krait.

"Serve the scummy blood-snob right" said Kinat.

Krait gazed at him thoughtfully.

"Some people don't heed my words" she said; and there was another four-foot woodlouse wriggling helplessly in mid air. "I don't like racists. Of any kind." She passed around the class looking in cauldrons. "Most of you appear to have made the same elementary mistake….except Mr Konal, who has a most excellent colour….Just as well for him as he is a trifle indisposed right now..." She proceeded to take the class briskly through the completion of their potions; and was grading them when Severus returned.

He looked at the woodlice with some puzzlement.

"Discipline for manners" said Krait. "They're finding out what it's like to be different and a figure of derision for those who don't like woodlice…" she flipped her wand negligently at the first wood louse and the boy dropped into his seat. "Feeling more affable now, Mr Symond?"

Lestrange-Symond surreptitiously tested all his human limbs.

"Sorry" he muttered. Krait smiled grimly and released Kinat from his transfiguration too. She looked at Lestrange-Symond

"Go and talk to Malfoy and Konal" said Krait, not unkindly. "You might find them more to your taste than your other so called friends." She fixed Abrax with a steely gaze that ordered him to give the boy a chance.

That might be sorted, anyway.

"I say…you're completely fair!" Blurted out Romulus. "Turning him into one too…"

"Like I said…I don't like any kind of racism" said Krait. "You two should have some interesting notes to compare…"

Romulus nodded and he and Kinat exchanged wary looks.

-/-

"We restrained the criminal and took her to the Ministry" Severus said in an undertone. "Class dismissed!"

"And are they going to hush it up?" asked Krait as the last child filed out.

"They'd better not" he returned grimly. "Especially as they were of all things drafting an order to have her declared High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!"

"INQUISITOR? What?" Krait was outraged.

He nodded.

"Indeed…they were passing new legislation to have greater control and she was to be it….Albus hit the roof, pointed out that if it was her idea – and I wager it was – the concept of having a Death Eater as inquisitor was the outside of enough. He pointed out that enough children with influential parents saw that dark mark to make life very uncomfortable for the ministry; and that if the plans for a High Inquisitor went ahead, and if a trial did not, he would see to it that all the parents knew how their children had been threatened – and that many would then draw their own conclusions that, whether the dark lord were dead or no, his puppets were running the Ministry. It was a very fine speech" added Severus meditatively. "There were those Wizgamot elders on the point of resigning over the decision about controlling Hogwarts – I rather think they put the boot in too" he grinned. "Fudge is NOT a happy man. He'll step up his attacks on Albus, of course, but he'll have to get more creative. We must pray and hope that the honest members of the Wizgamot keep the others at bay long enough for Wormtail to be apprehended."

"Indeed" said Krait fervently. "How did Minerva take it?"

"She said she wasn't surprised about Umbridge being a Death Eater" said Severus. "whether she believed that or was backing Albus I couldn't say….but she loathed her enough to be glad of the mark you set. It was cleverly done."

"Use your eyes and plagiarise" said Krait. "HE knew how…and I gleaned enough to learn his special twists. It should reek of him. It requires a burst of Parseltongue."

"And that's why it couldn't be duplicated. Clever."

She grinned.

"Told you first time we met that I'm no fool. Let's fill in the others."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 Defence against the Dark Arts**

The others were elated that Umbridge was finally gone and Dumbledore seemed to have some measure of control back from the Ministry.

"Though our defence classes will suffer" said Neville.

Hermione made a rude noise.

"They were suffering from that ridiculous book she set us" she said scornfully. "I read it all through….no defensive jinxes should be allowed….quite ridiculous. We'd do better ourselves at training the rest of the class – Harry knows more than most teachers, at least he can produce a corporeal Patronus."

"Well why don't we send out invites to join the Muggle Studies Hobbies Group?" said Krait. "If the ministry DO send in someone as awful, at least them we've got something in place….they're afraid if we learn too many spells, Dumbledore will set us on them as his army, as though he needed one" she added scornfully "So let's be prepared to give them what they expect if the buggers don't heed this as a warning. We'll do it without Severus overtly attached at first so he can't get into trouble – Harry can lead"

"Will they come?" asked Harry.

Krait shrugged.

"Their loss if they don't" she said indifferently. "Any that come are going to mean it…I'll legilimens their intent anyway…and we can get ready an army to do what the ministry won't. and if that has to involve deposing the ministry in a military coup for being old women, so be it."

"Hear hear!" said David who was enjoying his defence against the dark arts classes led by Krait.

"We'll put out word then." Said Hermione satisfied.

"We'll not have many Slytherin I fear" said Draco.

"There's Emmeline already" said Krait "And Abrax and Kinat are stealing that Romulus boy."

-/-

Those who turned up were half sceptical; and Harry nearly lost his temper over stupid questions. In the end however several signed up; and Krait turned away most ruthlessly several giggling girls, including Cho Chang's friend Marietta Edgecombe. Cho looked outraged.

"I don't think we need people who aren't serious" said Krait blandly. "You obviously are because of what might have happened to Cedric last term…..I assume you are still an item?"

Cho blushed and nodded; and Harry looked away. Ginny Weasley tried not to smirk.

_**ssss**__Marietta's Mother works at ministry…in favour of Umbridge __**ssss**_ Krait hissed to her group. Hermione, about to protest, shut her mouth again. "I loathe people who just come along for a giggle and to ogle their favourite boy" said Krait blandly. "It'll put Harry off no end and I'll end up turning them into hens….and I might forget to turn them back when someone comes looking for dinner."

She received several nervous looks for that; nobody was quite sure how much she might be joking! Krait grinned to herself. It was an uncertainty that amused her, like Severus' suggestion that he poisoned fourth years!

It was Fred and George who came up with the idea of using the Room of Requirements, that opened for anyone who really needed it with appropriate equipment; and everyone voted it a good idea. It would also save the invasion of Myrtle's loo until they were sure of these new people.

-/-

Naturally some early meetings took place in Myrtle's loo amongst the core people; Abrax and Kinat had joined that core, with Ellie and now Romulus, who explained hesitantly that he was the _other_ son in the family and had been preparing to bully to avoid being bullied. Krait warmed to him, seeing Severus in him.

Equally naturally, there were attempts at infiltration.

Romulus and Abrax strolled in one morning after having missed the early run – not all those prepared to learn defensive spells cared for the whole package, though the youngsters rarely missed it – and David growled.

"What is it Fido?" asked Krait sharply. She was the oldest there as Severus and Sirius were discussing Draco's new spell and checking it for flaws. David promptly transformed; with Sirius' help he had learned how to become a dog over the holidays. He went to the two boys and sniffed them. One started to back away; the other held his ground.

"Erskine – I presume" said Krait coldly to the bolder of the pair " – and Porteous? No, he'd not do his own dirty work – Derwent."

Erskine, disguised as Abrax shrugged.

"We thought it would be a laugh" he said

"Tie them to the water pipes for now and leave them there until they say where Abrax, Kinat and Rom are" said David, transforming back "At least they've not touched Ellie…" he smiled at the diminutive half goblin girl.

At that moment the missing three strolled in.

"Some fool sent us on a futile mission down to Hagrid's…hey!" said Abrax, seeing his double.

"And you returned quicker than they reckoned too, as well as already being found out" grinned Krait. "Beat it you two….tell Porteous to do his own spying and to be less inefficient about it….but E for your potion making, Polyjuice potion needs some considerable application."

"Thanks" said Hawke Erskine's rather sardonic voice. He looked down his nose. "I suppose next thing we know we'll be in detention with Snape?" he spoke in apparent airy unconcern.

Krait shrugged.

"depends if you left any clues stealing his boomslang skin…it is his, by the way, not the school's so he takes it personally….we won't sneak you up. We WILL watch you; and I will expect you to cough up half a galleon each for the boomslang or I'll see you pay in other ways. Oh yeah, and if any of the older ones – Porteous' sister and the gang she's in in the third year, or Mordred Lestrange-Symond and his gang in the sixth beat on you for failing to report any news, let us know. We'll be glad to pass on our displeasure to them up front and personal. Good day."

Erskine paused a moment as Derwent fled; then he marched out.

Krait shook her head.

"Something in that one, maybe…what do you think, Rom?"

"Erskine? He's hard….nothing touches him, he makes like he despises everyone" said Romulus. "He didn't try to beat me up when I left the gang, though; just shrugged and said it was my choice."

"Yes they did try and so did Rom's brother and we won" said Kinat succinctly. "They got out their wands and we bit them, growling, like they say mad-dog Fraser does."

David grinned.

"It's the way to win fights….go in like a mad thing and don't even contemplate failure" he said.

Krait nodded; and smiled at Severus as he walked in with the big Alsatian.

"Good, it's a valid lesson" she said. "And we have a job unfinished; now SHE's gone, and before they send anyone worse, let's do our boy scout thing this weekend to get Erich's half-sibs safe. Erich, I was thinking about blooding you. Will you join?"

Erich nodded.

"Good" said Krait. "Sirri and Beloc are coming in too."

"What about Grace?" asked Erich.

Severus glanced at the little girl.

"Grace doesn't have enemies the way you have, Erich….it's a big risk for a very little girl if she's got no particular need to be protected."

Grace tried not to look disappointed.

Notably, Abrax and his cronies were exchanging thoughtful looks; and Severus gave them a quelling one!

-/-/-/-

The blooding took place the evening before the trip; Sirri and Beloc positively bubbling to be given the same courtesies as humans and treated as people; Erich over the moon to be now related properly to his new father! Meanwhile, the fifth form had plenty of homework, and it seemed a good idea for them to sit down quietly after a blooding to finish as much as they could. Krait wrote a dream diary for Ron to copy while Hermione checked his and Harry's Astronomy; and Ron chuckled to himself about the incongruity of being chased by pink erumpants that changed into marshmallows and engulfed him.

-/-/-

They met in the shrieking shack the following day; Harry had made the Marauders' map available to show the group secret passages. Severus was plainly a little uncomfortable, but the atmosphere was lightened as they changed into lederhosen when Abrax cheekily sang,

"Oh you're never going to Heaven on Severus' knee, 'cos Severus knee…"

"….Is reserved for me" said Krait.

"I was going to say, 'is too knob-er-ly'" said Abrax.

"Foul brat" said Draco amicably. "We're all pallid creatures from our English climate….I guess Severus has brewed us up some false tan for our unnaturally exposed legs….smile!" he whipped out a camera to photograph the group, and grinned at Severus and Sirius. "For when I need to blackmail you both over my NEWT results" he quipped.

"What ARE you like, Draco?" scolded Hermione.

"MUCH better than he used to be….wish I'd thought of that" said Fred, mournfully.

"CAN we leave my knees out of this?" said Severus, irritably.

"Only if you want to walk stiff legged, sir" laughed Harry. "Nobody would make an issue if we weren't all friends, you know….and we all have pretty knobbly knees, it just shows more on long legs."

"Not as bad as Hermione, she has DIMPLES on hers!" laughed Ron. "I'd rather have knobbly knees than dimples…"

"DO you mind?" asked Hermione wrathfully. "I'm sure Severus and I are quite happy that our knees at least work, which the rest of you boys won't when we loose the jelly-legs jinx…and you've got a rove on yours, Ron that won't heal 'cos you keep picking it!"

"Are we ready to get going then?" said Krait. "Now we've relieved the pre-raid tension with sufficient silliness…"

With Beloc and Sirri helping with the transport – and with the instinctive understanding of what they were doing running in the blood-group's veins to help support and carry the younger 'scouts' that were not blood-joined but refused to be left out anyway – the apparating was simple, though they took it in two stages.

"Isn't it illegal for us to be helping?" asked Hermione.

"Elf transport. It damps out the emanations….the ministry can't pick it up to get you kids into trouble anyway" said Sirius. "As for the legal aspects, we've considered overthrowing the ministry….how much more illegal can we get than that, Hermione? Not to mention helping a convicted prisoner."

-/-

The alpine scenery was beautiful; and foolish though the party may have felt in lederhosen in the Shrieking Shack, nobody gave them a second glance as they tramped around the villages near Schloss Von Strang. The avoided Strangsdorf, the village of the Von Strang estate.

"It is normal for people to spend time as wandervogel" said Erich, "Taking advantage of the fine weather and getting away from it all for the weekend. I will the local people question, for some of them will recognise me" his Germanic idiom had become more pronounced; and Krait gave his shoulders a quick squeeze. This was the first time he had seen his homeland in more than a year, since he had been packed off to Durmstrang; and he had little likelihood of seeing it again in the foreseeable future. Erich smiled firmly at her; and went to chat to people while they sat outside a gasthof eating bread, sausage and cheese and drinking milk – for the younger ones – and beer for the adults and older teenagers. Krait stuck to milk herself; she had no desire to risk her baby's health! She reflected that she was starting to show now, if anyone looked closely; and was glad that at school she could wear her House robes over the sweater and skirt of her basic uniform. Robes hid a multitude of things.

It did not take Erich long to get a lead; apparently he was more popular than his father had been in the vicinity, and he told them that his stepmother had found shelter in an Alpine farmhouse.

Before long, the group were drinking good cold water from the farm's well to slake their thirst after a long walk; and Erich was talking fast to convince the farmer that he meant his stepmother and siblings nothing but well. Adalheid came out during this and pointed to Krait.

"That's the girl that got us away" she said. The muggle scratched his head.

"Strange lot you was associating with then, Fraulein" he said.

Krait shrugged.

"Strange things happen…nobody wants the Nazis back, you do what you can to stop it."

"That's the truth" agreed the farmer. "Best of luck, then, lady, God with you."

-/-

The children were apprehensive, but obviously overjoyed to see Erich again; and in hardly any time at all were installed with their mother under the care of David's gran; and if she were heard to mutter that the mother needed more looking after than the babes, who were as old as Lydia and Jade at least after all, then it was as well that gran was there to do the looking after!

-/-

Naturally there were repercussions to the failed spying trip by Erskine and Derwent; they sported bruises that their peer group noted after the next quidditch lesson.

"Third or sixth?" asked Abrax succinctly of Erskine. The boy gave him a quizzical look.

"Third…leave them, it's not worth it. They'll murder you."

"Yeah?" Abrax grinned. "I know Kung Fu…."

"I dunno who he is" said Derwent "and if nobody's heard of him he's not going to impress anyone. Piss off and play with muggles and goblins; it's what you lot like."

Erskine gave Derwent an impatient look and Abrax an appraising one.

"You don't have to get involved" he said ungraciously.

"Yeah, well, maybe we want to" said Abrax.

-/-

There were five third year boys and Miss Porteous and her girl friend in the gang; Abrax, Kinat, Romulus, David and Erich thought themselves quite capable of handling them.

They made the decision to taunt the bigger boys into getting their wands out and then stick to the strictly physical, claiming if they got caught by staff that they had to defend themselves and weren't about to break rules about wands in the corridors. As it happened they were getting the upper hand before the fight was interrupted by Severus, who negated the jelly-leg jinx on Kinat, who was undeterred from biting one of the bullies' legs, and put the older gang in detention for picking on small children.

"And I've just had a delivery of horned toads" he said smiling nastily.

The younger group felt very pleased with themselves indeed, even though Severus did set them each an essay on the expected behaviour in civilised society of not fighting like the monkey house at the zoo.

_I confess it; the idea of Severus in lederhosen was too hilarious to pass up. I have been told about the custom of seeking the countryside by walking as a common hobby and lederhosen seem practical garments so if I have this entirely wrong I apologise to any German readers if my source is inaccurate/out of date. _


	11. Chapter 11

_**Don't blame me for the new arrival she just waltzed into my story, plonked herself down and demanded to be noticed.**_

**Chapter 11 Sirius business**

Krait enjoyed teaching; and there were a lot of eager young minds in the first two years who responded well to discussion around what actually constituted dark creatures and dark arts as well as concentrating on the practical defences that Krait drilled them in fairly ruthlessly between giving them a rest by dividing them into teams to have a quiz. The children enjoyed quizzes and learned more than they realised. And though they might consider her a bit of a hard taskmaster over learning protective spells, Krait took no notice. Soon they might be facing Deatheaters invading the school if her father got impatient; and knowing the spells might save their lives. It was a sobering thought to realise that her efficiency or otherwise might mean the difference between life and death to some of these kids. No wonder Minerva got knacky about ill-prepared children leaping into danger! Minerva however wanted to protect; Krait felt it better to prepare.

She would miss teaching when Albus found a permanent replacement; though she would continue to teach in the MSHG. Perhaps she would ask Severus if he would like a classroom assistant with the little ones to help them get to a stage where he would find them less frustrating in their lack of technique. Severus was brilliant but found dunderheads of any age hard to cope with, and made a bit of a fist of teaching the basics to those who did not get it first time. Now he was happier, and therefore more able to be patient, he was managing it better and even enjoyed relating some of the howlers his new ones came out with, but a bit of help might not go amiss.

-/-

The Daily Prophet meanwhile had been gleefully running a story that Sirius Black was as good as captured as he was known to be hiding in a deserted house near his last murder; then the headline

"SIRIUS BLACK EXONERATED! Supposed victim turns up alive!"

The story covered an interview with Kingsley Shacklebolt, whose amiable black face grinned from the lead picture; he explained how the aurors involved had set a watch on all the surviving classmates of Sirius Black, however unlikely their involvement with them might be – 'he could well have tried to kill others for all we knew at the time, once he'd been, as we thought, flushed from cover' – Kinglsey had said; and went on to explain that he could have been 'knocked down with a feather' when he recognised someone trying to access a certain property as Peter Pettigrew, supposedly killed by Black. 'With veritaserum, we soon found that far from having been killed with all those people this supposed victim had been part of a plot by You-Know-Who to discredit Black, a known friend of the Potters, tragically murdered as we know by the Dark One. With this knowledge, the likelihood of Black also murdering a muggle seems too unlikely though Pettigrew denied the charge himself. We believe that Pettigrew may have other Death Eater associates – for so he proved to be, though supposedly himself a friend of the Potters. Whether You-Know-Who is still around or not, this is starting to look like an attempt of his former associates to gain power, as is witnessed by the uncovering of Death Eater Dolores Jane Umbridge, who had got herself into such a position of trust she had been appointed by the Ministry to teach at Hogwarts. It is to the quick eyes of some of the older students and the quick action of other staff members that this state of affairs did not continue long; and we trust that the ministry will be on its guard against such evil. Whilst it is understandable that this whole affair has been hushed up, I am of the opinion that parents would be more reassured to know of the state of, er, constant vigilance that Dumbledore and his staff and prefects hold.'

"That's a nice dig at Moody" said Hermione.

The editorial praised Shacklebolt for his work and wrote a smarmily worded apology to Black implying that the Prophet had always believed in his innocence anyway.

Krait chuckled.

"New Professor – solved. We may get some drop off from the Muggle Studies Hobby group, but that means we'll keep the best."

"And what a poke in the eye for Percy!" said Ron, joyously.

-/-

Voldemort was eager to contact Krait and Severus.

"What is happening?" he demanded. "Wormtail gone missing…I can't get Lucius at all!"

"He's afraid you might shoot the messenger I suppose" said Krait scornfully. "I thought you'd be aware, or I'd have contacted you…some auror got a bee in his bonnet that Black had killed some muggle in Little Hangleton."

"I KNOW that!" the thin voice was shrill. "It's why I sent Wormtail to prepare Severus' house for us to stay in, in safety!"

"Ah, that explains a lot" said Krait. "They decided to watch the houses of old school fellows – those Black might be supposed to want to murder as well as friends – and apparently the auror recognised Wormtail….and used veritaserum on him to find out why he wasn't dead. Black's been exonerated and Wormtail's for Azkaban. You can free him with the others, can't you?" she asked. "It'll be an announcement that you're back to free them….no further need for your secrecy, so the suspicions aroused about Death Eater activity aren't going to be a problem then."

"Do not presume to make decisions for me" the voice was chilly.

"I apologise, my father" said Krait. "I must have misunderstood what I thought you had intimated of your intent."

"You are a thought hasty…what do you know of this Dolores Jane Umbridge? There was a small item about her a few days ago in the Prophet as being convicted of being a Death Eater. She is none of mine." His tone was silky.

"Did I go too far? I am sorry if so, my father, but although it's of no moment that she should cramp Harry Potter's style, she was due to be declared Hogwarts High Inquisitor with sweeping powers….I was concerned she might even if accidentally uncover our contact with you….I knew she was nothing to you, that you would deal with her if she were inconvenient, so I fitted her up."

"And how did you duplicate the Dark Mark?"

Krait blinked.

"It's so obvious…the ministry never did, so it had to have a Parseltongue component….I used the revelaspell on Severus' mark and as a Parselmouth I could interpret it far more fully than any fool Ministry investigative thaumaturgist. I am sorry if I have offended."

"You should have asked first. Severus, punish her for me if you please."

Severus swallowed.

"As my lord commands" he said, raising his wand. Krait wrapped her baby in protection, making a partial transformation to put her in an egg, as the searing pain of the cruciatus curse drove her to the floor. It seemed an age before the thin voice said

"Enough."

Krait struggled up.

"I shall remember to consult with you in future, father" she said flatly "Though if there is a hasty decision to be made, what then am I to do?"

"Your best, obviously" he said coldly. "I punished you because the decision was not taken hastily. I should punish Severus too….but I make no doubt that you were the instigator of the plan and talked – or used your mouth in some other wise – him into it."

"He thought it was a good plan" said Krait, pretending resentment.

"Then to continue to avoid punishment, he will remember to clear all such good plans with me. won't you Severus?" the jeering voice asked through thin reptilian lips.

"Assuredly, my lord" said Severus.

He held her tight after communication was broken.

"My love….how I hated to do that…."

"It was intended as a punishment for you, whatever he might say about letting you off….and a test to see if you would obey HIS bidding over your partiality for me…it has done us no harm. Severus, dear, I know how abhorrent that was….you acted bravely."

"I love you so well…I hate to hurt you…"

"It's only pain…..they can't touch us inside."

-/-

Sirius Black turned up at the Staff Table for supper without any bells or whistles; and was introduced in matter of fact fashion by Dumbledore as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Unlike the previous incumbent he made no speeches.

There was a buzz of excited chatter, naturally; and Hermione scowled at a Ravenclaw boy who was busy opening a Book on how long Black would last. When she taxed the boy with it later he only shrugged and said

"Well, it's cursed, isn't it? - Though a bare eight days for Umbridge is bad going for anyone, I think Black might stay one term at least. Fancy a flutter?"

"It's like the Curse of the Mummy!" said an excitable muggleborn junior as Hermione opened her mouth to make a scathing reply.

Krait laughed.

"Nope, it's the curse of the Daddy!" she said; and those of her set fell about laughing, knowing that Tom Riddle had applied for the post many years before and been turned down; as Dumbledore had let slip to the Order of the Phoenix when he was worrying over who would be filling the post.

-/-

Most people voted Black a good teacher; even Hermione was heard to admit he was almost as good as Remus Lupin, by whom Hermione set her standards of efficiency in Defence. There was some drop off from the Muggle Studies Hobbies Group as predicted; but some declared themselves ready to carry on if Professor Black did not object

"And I don't want to be in trouble with him" said Cho, apologetically "For he's pretty grim faced, almost as scary as Professor Snape."

There was some further drop off when those turning up early to run found that far from disapproving, Professor Black would join them; as well as Professor Snape.

"One thing to be made clear first" Sirius said quietly. "This group is about self discipline as much as any other training; we are informal in the mornings together, some people even use the first names of those of us on the staff; but in school, proper discipline must be maintained. Is that clear?"

"Sir, we are honoured that you give up your time to help us" said Ernie MacMillan. "We will gladly abide by those rules you see fit to impose."

"Prosy little git" muttered Ron. "Mind, it's going to be hard to make properly respectful faces at Snuffles…."

"Learn to like it" said Krait. "I'm all proper to Severus in class…and I guess we have a far less dignified relationship when it boils down to it than just throwing the odd stick for Padfoot when he's in disguise."

Ron went scarlet; and Krait chuckled. Hermione sighed at her.

Krait was sitting in on some of the lectures Severus gave because it seemed foolish for him to repeat his pearls of wisdom for her alone; and nobody knew more about potions than Severus. He largely ignored her. She turned in assignments which he marked ruthlessly.

She was also acting as his classroom assistant with the youngest two classes and declared that she was learning as much in teaching as in class because not only were they covering technique potions that she had not covered save perfunctorily but she could see mistakes that were easy to make. And it was valuable to realise that a potion nobody would ever use save in school, like the hair raising potion, introduced a tricky little stir pattern within a simple potion such as was used in more complex potions in the sort of hair care potions anyone might want to brew. Covering NEWT as well as lower school work showed where her NEWT level potions had been prepared for lower down the school. Even as, Severus told her, the brewing of Amortentia introduced the tricky little technique of dribbling in ingredients evenly whilst concentrating on a complex stir, something that would be needed to brew Felix Felicis, which was beyond the scope of NEWT though any NEWT student should, in theory, have the experience to brew it from techniques learned.

-/-

It was some three weeks into term when the newcomer arrived. She had lank black hair that fell in a curtain over her longish face; black eyes hooded and hidden peered out from the curtain. Dumbledore introduced her as Wilhelmina Prince when she was led to the Sorting Hat and mentioned that she had been delayed in coming through illness. She was sorted into Slytherin.

Severus had stared at her, frozen in shock; and Krait, as junior prefect took the child to see him as soon as she had shown her to her bed and told her the appropriate passwords.

The little girl stared at Severus.

"You're related to me" she said in a cold, hard little voice.

"It looks that way" said Severus. "I know of no relatives on the Prince side."

She stiffened.

"That's what Eileen Prince said" she said, her face taut.

Severus stiffened.

"You've spoken to my mother then?"

"She's your mother? My father said she was his half sister….I ran away to find her. That's when she turned me out and I caught Fairy Flu sleeping rough."

"Try" said Severus dryly "To tell me a whole story….like the circumstances leading to you running away….your father's name might be handy too."

"My father's name is Crassus Prince. He married my mummy, who was a muggle; and when I was about three she died. I think he might have pushed her under the train she's supposed to have fallen under" she added thoughtfully "And he took no

interest in me after that, I was raised by my mother's parents until he took me away last year to be a servant to his new wife and care for any babies she had. I wasn't allowed to see gran and granddad; and I thought I should see if I had any other relatives. So I ran away, and when I was found, questions were asked about why I wasn't at Hogwarts, so here I am." Her voice was flat and unemotional.

"Well he sounds a pretty rum sort of uncle to you if you ask me!" Krait burst out, addressing Severus.

Severus frowned.

"Indeed…well, I'm sure I can prevail on him to continue to stay out of your life…" said Severus "If that's what you want."

There was a flash in the black eyes.

"I'd like nothing more. He lets HER hit me around and he's pretty free with his fists himself…he said the Ministry of Magic would never award custody to mudblood grandparents."

Severus' eyes gleamed nastily.

"DID he now…we shall see about that. I'll have Dumbledore on it in no time flat. NOW!" his voice was harsh. "Your familial resemblance to me is marked….I can show you no favouritism, indeed I must be harder on you than on anyone else."

The girl nodded.

"Yeah, that's ok…when I was a Brownie I kind of pretended I was nothing to do with gran. It's the same."

"Well, an ex-Brownie will be good in the Muggle Studies Hobbies group" said Krait.

-/-

Sirius spoke to Severus later about his young cousin.

"I can keep half an eye out for her….maybe it'll atone for my mucking you about when you started…she's very like you to look at."

Severus laid a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

"I'd be glad if you would….and gladder to put the past behind us. Do it because friendship lies between us now, not for previous despite."

"I will." Sirius nodded.

-/-

It soon became apparent that Bil, as she styled herself, was as fond of academic work as Severus himself; but there was an odd quirk to her nature. Severus adjured the first years that the first one to play him up – they had been particularly irritating all morning – would miss Quidditch practice.

Bil threw a paper aeroplane with devastating accuracy to lodge in the Potion Master's own cauldron; and was duly given detention.

The next week she cheeked Sirius Black by telling a joke loudly when he left the class for a few moments with the decree that they'd better all be quietly working when he got back or there'd be trouble.

Sirius, who had found her hard working and respectful at other times, had her in his study to find the reason.

"I promised your cousin I'd keep an eye on you" he said "And so I shall….Not that you're normally much trouble…so why?"

"I don't like quidditch" she said calmly, not pretending to misunderstand him. "I think there's enough teachers to get a detention from each to cover until the end of term."

Sirius stared at her open mouthed, taken aback by the sheer gall.

"WHY don't you like quidditch?" he asked. "I mean, do you have ear problems, or breathing difficulties like Krait had?" he remembered Harry telling him that.

"Did Krait have problems?" Bil was interested. "I could lie, I suppose…but I've no real problems, save a weakness from the fairy flu…but I'm small, I came late and I look like everyone's least favourite master….I'd rather avoid trouble if I can, being beaten up and spelled to fall off a broom is no fun, you know."

Sirius ground his teeth; and suffered more than one qualm of guilt.

"How about if I take you on cross country flying trips instead?" he suggested. "We could ask if there's anyone else interested, not everyone likes Quidditch, and it would be a sight more supervised…Red-card Rolanda – er, I mean Madam Hooch – is enthusiastic but she can't have her eyes everywhere." He flushed with embarrassment for using the nickname Abrax and his cronies had come up with. Bil grinned.

"It's ok to say things within the MSHG anyway, isn't it?" she said. "I know you're supposed to be tactful in school, but I can keep my mouth shut. I should like that very much. Oh, by the way" she twinkled suddenly "YOUR nickname is K9."

"I suppose that's fairly suitable" he said.

-/-

Bil had some problems from fellow Slytherin; but Romulus was ready to back her now he had escaped from the gang; and his cousin Tigonia, the girl who had smiled at Krait, was also happy to be friendly to someone less hard faced than Elisa Mourne and Dione Parnassus, the only other girls in their year. The trouble she mostly had was with a group of older Ravenclaw girls who had decided that Professor Black was 'truly luscious and ROMANTIC' and resented the interest he took in the younger girl when he seemed immune to their blandishments. Sirius himself caught three of them deliberately burning the child with their wands; and he was furious.

Bil herself was philosophical about the matter; she had decided that as they planned to get her anyway she might as well say her say to them and had got in several barbed comments. Madam Pomfrey, discovering the extent of the burns, was less sanguine and the girls were given serious warnings as well as detentions. They were duly chastened in public; but the muggle studies hobby group reported that they had privately made comments that they had been treated unfairly because the little Slytherin Slut had a hold on Professor Black. The same girls had also made game of Grace Corbin for being slow, like Neville and called her a disgrace to Ravenclaw.

"I think we might just have to GET them" said Bil to Abrax, Kinat and Romulus.

"Any ideas?" said Abrax, interested.

"Lots" said Bil calmly. "I need to get some muggle kit though first….next term will be soon enough. Unless they stop, when we shan't have to."

**-/-**

The Ravenclaw girls weren't the only ones making up to Sirius. He was an object of much romantic speculation and rather silly dreams for a number of young maidens, most of whom did nothing more than dream in the privacy of their own four-posters; others made varying degrees of nuisances of themselves over him. Having recovered from his time in Azkaban, Sirius was his own good-looking self again and, at thirty five years of age was in that long afternoon of wizarding adulthood where age barely showed.

Other than that things were quiet for a while; apart from the inevitable practical jokes from junior classes – and Fred and George – and an illegal bit of Apparation practice that caused a small ruckus when instead of porting himself the boy accidentally brought several muggle schoolchildren to Hogwarts where David found them wandering confusedly by the Forbidden Forest in the snow. He had been responding to the news that Hagrid was back; for David really got on well with Hagrid and was one of the half giant's favourite people. David, a level headed boy, had taken the children directly to Professor Dumbledore who had taken care of the proper obliviating spells and sent them back as expeditiously as possible.

Hagrid's journey to the land of the Giants with Madame Maxime and their abortive attempts to enlist their support was of great interest to the Blood Group.

"He's moving" said Krait of her father. "It's the prophecy…he'd like to get his hands on it before he declares himself openly by releasing his people."

"Yeah…my scar doesn't hurt, but I'm aware of it a lot" said Harry.


	12. Chapter 12

_**This includes one of those events that I woke up having dreamed about and decided to run with it. As for Hagrid, I borrowed some dialogue because it fits so well and smoothed it in with my own. There's other events from canon; but it doesn't quite pan out exactly the same….**_

**Chapter 12 a chapter of accidents**

Hagrid took over his lessons again; and the first one was to introduce them to a new creature. He led them into the Forest, and Draco bit his lip hard. He didn't like the Forest much.

Krait laid a hand on his arm and he gave her a watery smile.

Hagrid proudly admitted that the herd of creatures they were about to see were the only domesticated ones in Britain; and that he had trained them himself. The place he led them to was deep in the forest and very dark.

"A quite crepuscular gloom" murmured Krait. Her Snapism made the nervous Draco laugh; which had been the general idea.

"Gather roun' gather roun'" Hagrid was enthusiastic. "They'll be attracted to the smell o' the meat, but I'm goin' ter give a call anyway, 'cos they'll like ter know it's me."

He gave an odd shrieking cry; and after a minute or so the first one became visible, blank pale eyes, dragonish features and huge leathery wings folded on their emaciated-seeming bodies.

"Right, who can see them?" he asked.

There was one other Slytherin boy who raised his hand; otherwise it was Ron, Hermione, Draco, Neville and Krait. Harry gulped, and concentrated on the memories the dementors always reawakened in him of his mother dying, thought about them and examined them from his near adult point of view; and suddenly he realised what he was seeing! He raised his hand too.

There were expressions of disbelief and surprise; and Hagrid pointed to the cow carcass that was rapidly disappearing.

"Thestrals" said Hagrid. "I'm surprised about some of you as can see them…"

"But they're bad luck!" one of the Patil twins protested.

"No, no!" Hagrid chuckled, "It's jus' superstition!" he explained that thestrals could be trained to pull carriages – as they did at the beginning of every term – and had an excellent sense of direction, and could carry people on long journeys if there was a reason not to apparate. He asked if anyone could tell him why some could see them and some not.

Hermione's hand and Krait's went up together.

"Go on then" beamed Hagrid.

The two girls looked at each other.

"The only people who can see Thestrals" began Hermione " are those…"

"…of us who have seen death" finished Krait.

Several people shivered at her tone which seemed to come from the grave.

"That's exactly right!" said Hagrid. "Ten points each to Gryffindor an' Slytherin."

The lesson was not universally popular; but those who could see the thestrals asked intent questions.

"After all" said Krait to Hermione "We never know if we might need them as we're not allowed to apparate."

-/-/-/-

It was that night that Harry dreamed of being inside a snake and attacking Arthur Weasley.

The dream woke the entire blood group; who promptly apparated into Harry's dormitory without thinking how impossible it was.

"I'll wake Dumbledore" said Severus crisply.

"Beloc, get Harry and me to Arthur" said Krait

"No!" said Sirius sharply. "You must not be found there….he…"

"He's on guard outside the Department of Mysteries" said Krait. "But Beloc could go, as a messenger…from you."

Sirius nodded.

"Sample" said Krait by way of an order to Beloc.

Beloc nodded; he picked up her meaning, and clicked his fingers. He was back in a very short while.

"The pictures from Professor Dumbledore's study stirred some Order types" he reported. "Sample" he handed Krait a phial. She whisked out of the room towards the potions dungeon.

Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had woken by this time and were staring at the group around Harry's bed.

"Hi, what are you Slytherin people doing here? You shouldn't be able to get in!" Seamus protested.

"It's the founders of the MSHG" said Dean. "You guys get up to some weird magic, don't you?"

"Let's just agree on that and say we'd rather not discuss it" said Draco.

"What's up? Can you tell us that?" Dean asked.

"Just a nightmare" said Harry.

Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall came in.

"I think the rest of you can go to your beds now" said Dumbledore. "Harry, Ron, Ginny would you come to my office? I need to confirm some things…"

Harry was bemused by the instrument Dumbledore used to show a smoky snake that split in mid air; and when the wizard met the boy's eyes the desire to sink fangs into the Professor - horrifyingly strong, as his scar burned! Harry locked down his mind hurriedly, using all he had learned of Occlumency from Severus and stared horrified at Dumbledore.

"He – he came though me" he said dully. "He knows about the link…he wanted to kill you."

Dumbledore gave him a sharp look.

"How much do you know?"

"Enough to make it less frightening than knowing nothing" said Harry, resentment creeping into his tone.

Dumbledore looked thoughtful.

"Perhaps the time has come to tell you more….Arthur is going to be all right, I have people on it…"

Krait walked in with Severus

"And I have an antidote" Severus said. "fortunately I have studied snake venom in general and Nagini's in particular…I may be paranoid, but it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Excellent!" said Dumbledore. "I'll take it with Harry and Ron and Ginny to St Mungo's…"

-/-

It was odd without Harry, Ron and Ginny. Krait didn't personally miss the twins all that much; their hearts were in the right place, but they couldn't half be annoying at times. Hermione agreed when she said so.

"I'll be going to London to see how Arthur is in just over a week after term ends too" said Hermione. "We're staying in Padfoot's place."

Krait nodded.

"That would be quicker to say if we just called it 'the kennels'" she said. "Severus says that the antidote helped….Arthur will get better quickly, but Harry saved his life by dreaming….if only we can make sure he can control the link."

"Harry can do it" said Hermione loyally.

"'Course he can" said Krait. "He's been working so hard on his occlumency…this'll give him even more incentive. Shall we toss for which of us takes Draco and which takes Neville to the ball?"

"That's a little cold blooded…."

"I'm part snake….it doesn't matter, we're all joined at the hip anyway. Let's stay in House…less people will remark upon it. Anyway, it'll keep Lucius sweet."

-/-

Krait hardly expected any more alarums and excursions; but a weak call from Severus in the night and the throb of pain in her blood coupled with the fire alarm had her racing to the dungeon.

-/-

The rest of the school roused with the fire bell and poured out into the cold night air; Hermione was busy directing Gryffindors.

"Where's Scales?" Sirius asked Draco, sharply "I can feel a tightness…pain…"

"He's in trouble….and Krait" the boy replied. "Hermione…Neville with us….David, Erich, look after the babes!"

Jade was screaming that Daddy was choking; Lydia was sobbing and they were both trying to pull away from Gran.

-/-

Between the older members of the Blood Group, Severus and Krait were dragged out of the dungeon; Severus was lividly burned all down one side.

"I….owe you…" he muttered hoarsely to Sirius.

"We said no owing" said Sirius "Unless you do want to count it evens for the past…what happened?"

"Somebody….spilt Chinese…dragon heart…blood….burns with…toxic fumes…in air…had to" he coughed horribly "Put it out before…..rest of castle….."

Draco and Hermione were half carrying Krait who clutched her belly.

"Medical Apparations I think" said Dumbledore briskly, dropping the anti-apparating zone with a whisk of his wand; he motioned to Professor McGonagall to take Krait and she and Sirius disapparated with a loud CRACK!

Dumbledore looked around sternly.

"Thanks to the quick work of Professor Snape we may hope a tragedy has been averted" he said. "You will be able to return inside very shortly….the fumes are being dissipated. However, I am going to ask whoever may have been meddling in the Potions Dungeon to own up as soon as possible…if I do not get any response by after breakfast tomorrow, I will treat the affair as arson and attempted murder. If anyone would like to speak to me, or one of the staff before then about a stupid prank that went wrong I will be prepared to listen."

It was a subdued few people that met next morning in Myrtle's loo. Jade sat on Draco's lap, and Lydia on Hermione's. Hermione looked somewhere between faintly bemused and fiercely protective.

"Dumbledore's cancelled the Yule ball" said Sirius.

"Good thing too!" put in Sirri. "Waste of time anyway, Mistress Krait says."

"How are they?" Hermione asked the question everyone wanted the answer to.

"Krait had the baby" said Sirri. "Or rather, they took her out with a medical apparation….She's very tiny; they put her in a magical womb. Apart from that she's all right. There's a girl called Abigail who's also pregnant who's catatonic Krait is concerned about."

Emmeline Greengrasse gasped.

"My sister's pregnant? Is it – HIS?"

"Almost has to be" said Sirius. "Whew! Well, we've room for another in the Hogwarts nursery I guess…unless your parents…"

Emmeline shook her head.

"They'd not be prepared to look after the baby….our parents deal with unpleasantness by ignoring it. I don't even hardly have to ask…though I guess I should."

"We can pass off her baby as our sister's twin" said Jade. "How is daddy, Sirri?"

Sirri pulled a face.

"Sick…he looks awful vulnerable….but they say his lungs will be all right. Can we put our hearts together for him? Please?"

"We're fools not to think it" said Draco. "Synchronise….Harry and the Weasleys will feel us do it and will join in."

"I'll go tell them about it" volunteered Beloc. "We're all being dense….too much happening." He disappeared with a snap of his fingers.

Soon the room reverberated with the dull lub-dup! lub-dup! of a massive single heartbeat.

In St Mungo's, Severus opened his eyes suddenly and stared about. His tiny wife sat beside him, her face white and drawn.

"The blood group!" he croaked, wonderingly.

"'Shh, dear, don't try your throat" she whispered tenderly, kissing his brow. "I've already been carefully dripping on your fingers….you'll not lose the ability to feel the way a potion is going."

He gazed at his fingers with an exclamation.

"See?" said Krait "Hardly any scarring…only on the backs…."

He took her hand and kissed the recently healed cut where she had used her own blood to heal him.

"Is my face hideous?" he asked.

"Vanity, thy name is Sev Snape…" she said. "It's scarred….it's scarily bad just now….does it make me feel any the less for you? Is that what you mean?" he nodded and she cupped his face tenderly. "You daft bugger….do you really have to ask?"

They were interrupted by Harry, Ginny and Ron.

"Severus! You look terrible!" said Harry, shocked.

"Cuh!" said Ron

"Tactless clots" Said Ginny. "Hi, Severus, hope you feel a bit better for the heartbeat thing."

"I do….thanks. Am I a mess?"

Ginny regarded him thoughtfully.

"Moderately" she said, candidly "But aren't you glad the flames missed your eye?"

"See?" said Krait. "We girls have priorities…..not the unwholesome vanities of the more frivolous gender…."

Severus laughed weakly.

"I think I need to sleep…." His voice was rough, barely more than a whisper.

They left him; and Krait showed her friends where her tiny newborn baby hung in a magical aura filled with the sound of heartbeat and as like a real womb as possible.

"Oh, she's done it again" said Krait.

The tiny green creature was coiled up happily, her tongue flicking in and out.

"Cool!" said Ron. "She's an animagus already!"

Krait concentrated and the baby flicked its tongue irritably and turned back into a human baby with a tuft of flaming red hair.

"She looks like a Weasley – gotta be good!" said Ron.

"RON!" protested Ginny.

"Her name's Lilith" said Krait. "Couldn't really be anything else….and it suggests Lily too, Harry…."

Harry nodded, overcome with emotion, knowing how Severus had loved his mother….

"Moody thinks Fishface is possessing me" he said abruptly. "We used Fred and George's extensible ears to listen in when they were talking to Arthur…."

"Is he? Or are you using occlumency?" asked Krait.

"I pushed him aside when I felt an urge to kill Dumbledore" said Harry.

"That's good….You'll be fine, Harry, ignore Alastor, he's paranoid….got good reason to be I suppose, but he had it in for Severus…." she filled them in on how she had filled the dungeon with assorted knickers for Moody to find, and had them in fits of laughter. It did them all the world of good which had been the general idea. Krait could be like that sometimes.

-/-

Sirri came back and forth, and brought Jade and Lydia to visit their parents. Severus was delighted to see them, but soon exhausted; and outside they clung to Krait and cried.

"It's all right" she soothed. "He'll be fine….it was bad, but it will be fine."

-/-

Krait was just thinking things were looking up when she saw the next medical apparition.

Sirius was carrying Romulus in one arm and Bil in the other.

Both children were wet, unconscious and blue with cold.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 Mostly in St Mungo's**

Sirius told Krait about it while nurses fussed over the children.

"Seems that little creep Mordred Lestrange-Symond got Romulus so scared over what he would do to him in the holidays as revenge for breaking away from his bullying stranglehold that Rom ran away…he headed out onto the lake, which was frozen, and didn't know about the underwater streams that enter it…he went through. Bil saw him go, and went after him….she crawled forward and managed to grab his arm, and held on. Merlin's Beard, Krait, I thought we'd lose both of them…she's so weak….that fairy flu pulled her, the least thing…" he was shaking.

"We can see about blooding them if we need to save them….so many things!" said Krait, horror in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, the little light in Scales' office has been going berserk….is that Fishface?" asked Sirius.

Krait went white.

"Dear God….he'll be in a hell of a mood if we're not answering….I can't leave Severus yet….Padfoot, that's news I'd rather not have had."

"Sorry….but you can at least take time to get your story straight…."

"I can tell the truth….I'll try to get in to see the kids soon."

Sirius left her with her head buried in her hands.

It would be too much to ask the whole blood group to join in yet again…they had been through a lot. But he would not see the child he had taken under his wing die!

-/-

Romulus was stable when Padfoot entered the ward; but there were still concerned discussions around Bil.

"Are you her guardian?" asked a Healer.

"I'm her godfather…." It was a lie but close enough for busybodies, he thought.

"Perhaps you can sit and talk to her….a familiar voice does wonders…."

Sirius nodded. When they were all out of the way he got out a small knife, and deliberately slashed his palm and Bil's.

"I shan't lose you" he said conversationally, willing the healing of his blood into hers as he sat beside her, handlocked to her.

-/-

They found him there, almost unconscious, some time later; and Bil's colour was better and there was warmth in her cold limbs. She fluttered her eyes open.

"Padfoot?" she asked.

He stirred.

The healers stared in shock.

"What has he done?" cried one.

"Oh! Blood magic!" cried Bil "Padfoot, wake UP, don't give all your strength…" she pulled her hand away and shook Sirius.

He opened his eyes.

"Feeling better?" he asked. "Good…I feel rough….need to sleep."

To the consternation of the healers he slumped into the chair and slept.

-/-

Bil and Romulus were inseparable while they were in hospital. Rom's parents had not come to visit him; and Sirius, quickly recovered, told them that Dumbledore had expelled his elder brother and that their parents had refused to have any more to do with Rom. In fact they had referred to him as a 'cowardly little runt' but Sirius didn't think that worth passing on. They had probably said that or similar things to the boy often enough.

"Sirius, am I blood group?" asked Bil.

"Kind of…it's not full."

"I think if you do make me full, all Rom's friends would be an asset…it's been tough taking all the strain, hasn't it?" she asked. Sirius hesitated.

"It has been a Hell of a term" he admitted.

"When Fishface attacks more we'll need more" she said. "What if you hadn't got an antidote for Arthur Weasley? – I've been listening at keyholes" she added as he opened his mouth to ask how she heard about that. "It was cousin Severus who made an antidote, wasn't it? Yes. I guessed it would be" she nodded as his face answered her. "If you'd had to use blood to heal him, the whole group might not have saved Cousin Severus….and we'd be dead too."

"I'll put it to people" he said. "Don't go looking for trouble….it'll find you readily enough."

She grinned cheekily at him and he had a sudden flash of the idea of the young Severus exchanging such a grin with him and James and Remus.

"But trouble finds me anyway…" she said "So I might as well be prepared for it."

"I said, we'll see" he said. "So many might have beens…." He added to himself.

"Padfoot" she said seriously "I know Professor Dumbledore and cousin Severus bullied my father into leaving me be….but he won't stay bullied….."

"Don't worry about that, little one…."

"I can't help it….but I've an idea….if you've not got a wife or girlfriend hidden up somewhere…."

"What are you up to?"

"They say there's a portrait of your mother that speaks…"

"And how!"

"If she could be persuaded that the Prince family – which is nominally pure blood – was a good match and you swore a blood oath to be betrothed to the first female Prince born…..and a forgery was made of a document made at my birth…. If I were betrothed to you, because arranged marriages are still legal, you'd be my guardian…."

Sirius stared.

"How devious….but to release you from that later would be awkward, such things are legally binding…."

"Let's worry about later, later" said Bil. "I need protection now…."

Sirius nodded.

"Of course….it's brilliant in a warped and twisted sort of way….it's obvious you're related to Severus."

Bil laughed.

"I THINK that's a compliment…."

"Approximately…." Sirius reflected that it really was; he and Severus were drawing closer all the time; and anything he could do to protect Bil he most certainly would!

-/-

Krait left Severus as soon as she felt able; though tearing herself away from her tiny and vulnerable baby was a wrench.

Sirri slipped a tiny hand into hers.

"I'll watch for you" she squeaked. "I – I know what it's like, missing Mimi….and now" she blushed "I – I'm pregnant. Several months."

"Yes, that would be wonderful…and would relieve my mind…" said Krait. "Are you happy?" she asked.

Sirri shuffled.

"Well….yes – and no. I – I had an affair with Dobby" she said in a rush "Because he was another free house elf….I thought it would be so nice to raise all free babies…." She sniffed hard "But when I told him I was pregnant he was horrified….he d-doesn't want to be landed with family and responsibilities!"

Krait wrapped her arms around the tiny girl.

"Oh Sirri!" she said. "My dear, you know we'll all muck in to help….I can't begin to imagine your disappointment and dismay….why have you masked it from the rest of us?"

"House elves isn't supposed to be happy….it's hard to get over that, it's bred into us…and there was so much going on when I found out he didn't want to be a father…" she sobbed. Krait stroked her dark hair.

"Promise me if anything troubles you, you'll always confide it" she said "We're here to bear each other's troubles…your baby will be born free, anyway, and we will nurture him or her in that!"

Sirri hugged her wordlessly.

-/-

Back at the silent, yuletide world of Hogwarts Krait went to the dungeon; and activated the link to her father.

The globe glowed into life and the malevolent features of Voldemort sprang angrily into it.

"Where the blazes have you been? I've been sending the summons for days, I even sent the Dark Mark summons to Severus and he's ignored it!"

"It would be when he was unconscious I expect" Krait didn't have to feign the exhaustion in her voice.

"What's been going on?"

Krait told him of the feeling Severus had had that someone had been in the dungeon. She let him think she had been with the Potions Master and had followed him. She went on to explain about the powdered dragon heart blood, how Severus had beat out the toxic flames with his bare hands.

"It had to be done quickly" she said. "There was no time to call for help…..and it's a good job Harry Potter's still around because….because I went into premature labour… I wasn't far along, I didn't even show."

It was true that she barely showed; nobody outside of those closest to her had any idea that Krait was pregnant at just six and a half months gone; and she felt herself fortunate in that.

"You can get onto that as soon as the term starts" he said.

"You don't have much idea about the affect hormones and that can have on the female body, do you?" said Krait coldly. "These things don't get resolved overnight….I'll move in my own time on this, my lord. There are physical strains to be considered too….I don't want to miscarry because of not taking care of myself."

"Well…do what you can." He said sulkily. "Tell me what you know about Arthur Weasley, how he may be."

Krait blinked.

"Weasley? He's in St Mungo's I think….Potter and the Weasley brats went off in the night….they've been around St Mungo's…I was more concerned with my own woes, I have to say, and somewhat concerned about Severus….I'd hate to be operating alone, he's a good conversationalist and he has his other amusing attributes. He'll be gladder to have me be relatively faithful to him though…he's been terribly scarred."

"Weasley is still alive then. Well, never mind….find out from Potter if you can what sort of dreams he has….and if he has any idea where they come from."

"Are you sending him bad dreams then, father?" Krait asked.

"No…..but the blood I have from him and the scar that binds us means that there is a portion of my soul still in his…when he is asleep he can get some thoughts from me, I suspect….I tried to reach through him but he blocked me out….I do not know how profound the link is, whether he blocked me on purpose or whether he was just overcome with his own emotions. I need to know!" his voice rose almost to a screech.

"I'll see what I can get from him" said Krait. "Father…I feel so weak…I wanted to let you know what had happened…"

"Go and regain your strength daughter" Voldemort ordered. "I will need you and Severus at your peak of condition."

-/-

Krait dropped onto Severus' sofa and relaxed. She had been afraid that her father would be unwilling to listen and might punish her mightily. She let the tears of all the stress flow; and finally fell asleep. When she awoke she had two pairs of soft little arms around her; and Erich, David and Grace sat quietly on the floor.

"She's awake" said David quietly. "I'll make cocoa."

It was enough to make one feel quite weepy again, thought Krait! This must be post natal depression; and she would see about brewing a potion to help her get over it as soon as possible, because life was good, and there was so much to be thankful for, including such wonderful children as wards!

Jade and Lydia were not deeply asleep, and awoke to the smell of cocoa; and they all cuddled up companionably.

-/-

Krait made frequent visits to the hospital via the floo network; and soon Severus was permitted up to go and see his daughter.

"She's tiny!" he said, wonderingly.

"Not as much as she was a week ago" said Krait. "They're going to let us take her when you come home….she'll still be a little premature but survivably so…her official birthday can be the day she's let out."

Severus laughed.

"Makes her sound a hardened criminal in Azkaban" he said.

"Idiot…." She said lovingly.

-/-

Severus was grinning soppily all over his face when Lilith was presented to Krait and she handed their baby to him to carry back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore met them.

"I don't have to ask if you're happy despite everything, Severus" he said quietly.

"No….it gives me yet one more thing to fight for" said Severus quietly "As though I didn't have plenty already….She's perfect!"

His perfect daughter stuck out a forked tongue and hissed at Dumbledore.

"Manners, Lilith" said Krait.

Dumbledore jumped.

"WHAT? Why is her tongue forked?"

"She changes that far when she wants to hiss…..she's an animagus, keeps changing into a snake, it unnerved them totally in St Mungo's." Said Krait.

"I'm not surprised" said Dumbledore dryly "It usually takes many years of study to become an animagus; I don't believe I have ever heard of it having been possible below sixteen years old. And that after much research."

Krait shrugged.

"Took me about two minutes after being introduced to the reality of magic. Isn't it inherent then? And runs in families, like Sirius is an animagus and Tonks is a metamorphagus?"

"There is often familial talent…. Well, we shall have to keep an eye on this young lady I see as she has as profound a distrust of the word 'Impossible' as her mother."

Krait laughed.

"Not to mention a profound desire to escape from her nappy" she said.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 Of Prophecy**

Harry arrived back a few days before the beginning of term, and sought out Severus.

"Are you feeling well enough for me to ask questions, sir?" he asked anxiously. "There are things I need to know, but I don't want to tire you out.."

"I'm not an invalid!" said Severus irritably. "Especially with the Blood Group's intervention….which proves how powerful the whole concept is…."

Harry grinned.

"Yeah, that went really well….Ron was half wondering if we should use it on his dad, but your antidote worked wonders….seems the blood wouldn't stop flowing, they were getting ready to poke blood-replenishing potions into him, but as soon as he had yours, the wounds started healing normally with magic."

"I obtained a sample of Nagini's poison some time ago and analysed it….I carry a phial of antidote every time we visit Fishface just in case, so I had some made up. Call me paranoid, but…"

"It's a kind of creative paranoia that might save your life one day – and saved Arthur Weasley's" said Harry seriously. "Well, if you're okay for me to talk…."

"Just ask, Harry, stop going on a Night Bus trip…"

"When I dreamed about Mr Weasley I was inside the snake….but if I was sampling Voldemort's mind…"  
"DON'T say his name!"

"Sirius and Professor Dumbledore do"

"Sirius is reckless; and not unpowerful; Dumbledore is extremely powerful. And YOU have a link to him that can more easily be opened if you use his name, or think about him too deeply."

"If someone had only told me that before….."

"All right, you're being told now….nobody wanted to frighten you with the possibility of having a portion of his consciousness before; it doesn't hurt to tell you the whys now you know that. As to your question, I should think if you think about it you'd reach the answer yourself….the dark lord, disembodied, possessed the minds of snakes….as he has possessed other minds, like Ginny Weasley's…"

"So his mind was in the snake, with its senses…..I wondered if he was an animagus, like Krait. He's very snakelike…."

"He sustained himself on unicorn blood and snake venom….hardly surprising that the serpentine characteristics rubbed off. You're still looking questions, Harry – why don't you put the kettle on?"

Harry made hot, sweet coffee and sat down again, cradling his mug.

"I saw where Mr Weasley was" he said carefully "Kind of….but I've been dreaming of a passage for a long time…. I want to know where it was."

"Put your coffee down" said Severus. "I'll see what I can find…let your blood sing with mine and we'll explore your closed mind together."

Harry looked trustingly into his mentor's eyes; and Severus, muttering 'legilimens' to himself pushed forward towards Harry's memories of his dreams. They found a long, windowless corridor with a locked black door, the memory of Arthur Weasley going to the left down a flight of stone steps.

"It's the Department of Mysteries" said Harry. "I've been seeing bits of the passage for months…What's in there?"

Severus' eyes glittered.

"A whole lot of things the Ministry wants to keep secret…experimental stuff….and prophesies. HE wants to see that prophecy."

"I know I'm a prophecy…but nobody has ever told me what the prophecy IS" said Harry.

"Albus has not? I had assumed…as it is the reason the dark lord tried to kill you….why you bear that scar…"

Harry rubbed the scar absently.

"Severus, I have never known why he tried to kill me…I guess I've sort of rationalised that he wanted to kill my parents and I was in the way…."

"Ah Harry, it's quite the reverse…your parents were the bar to him killing you…I told you I had overheard part of the prophecy, told the dark lord what I heard….but there was more, I was disturbed and had to leave hurriedly….Sybil Trelawney went into a trance."

"How can you tell?" Harry managed to quip.

"She became rational" said Severus dryly "What I heard was" he collected himself "I would do better to use the Pensieve to show you."

"Or I could look, like you just did in me. to save you having to go and get it." Suggested Harry.

Severus looked at him thoughtfully.

"And have Albus ask me why I wanted it….there is that in the suggestion…I do not readily let people in, Harry, I have been locked down for so many years, only Krait….very well, let us explore my memories. And say the spell like you mean it!" he added irritably.

Harry gulped and pointed his wand.

"_Legilimens!"_ he said.

Trelwney's voice was muffled by the thick door he was listening at the keyhole of. It wasn't her usual mystic, ethereal voice but thick, harsh tones.

_**"the one with power to vanquish the dark lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…"**_

** there was then the interruption as Snape was disturbed, hurried away.**

"And that" said Severus dryly "is all I can help you with…I believe there to have been more. There were two boy children born at the end of July; you and Neville. The Dark Lord chose to assume YOU were the prophecy; as you are the boy who lived, presumably he got it right."

"What power have I to vanquish him?" Harry wondered.

Severus grinned.

"The ability to make friends and influence people?" he suggested facetiously. "You've the power to inspire people to be ready to risk blood magic….even if it's only the power to be a symbol to spur the rest of us on that has to mean something."

"Why am I dreaming of the Department of Mysteries though? When I didn't even know there was more to know there?"

Severus regarded him with hooded eyes.

"Because HE wants you to dream of it….he wants to whet your curiosity to go there and get it – for him. He was, I think, unaware that you could see his emotions as well by that connection…we are a stage further."

"Why does he want ME to go and get it? Can't he get a spy in the ministry to do it?"

Severus stared.

"Of course, another piece of missing knowledge….only those named in a prophecy can take it from the shelves or go insane….he's probably tried to get others to do it, when I went to visit Arthur in St Mungos there was a fellow called Bode there, and he's an Unspeakable – that's what they call people who work in the Department of Mysteries. It would explain his sudden insanity."

"Yes, someone sent him a Christmas present…Neville was there visiting his parents." Harry swallowed. "What, er, Fishface did to them was worse than killing them."

"Indeed….Krait has some ideas, rather radical ideas…..if it is possible to restore them we most certainly shall, but say nothing to Neville….we don't want to raise his hopes when it may come to nothing."

Harry shook his head. He couldn't stop thinking about the look on Neville's face.

"Krait said she'd try to legilimens Trelawney's unconscious memory" said Harry.

"I think that would be wise" Severus nodded. "If she'll let her near enough….Trelawney doesn't like either of us much."

"I wonder why!" grinned Harry.

-/-

Severus and Krait between them concocted an excuse for Krait to carry a message to Madame Trelawney before term began.

Krait tapped at the door and went into the cluttered Divination Room where Trelawney was fussing around to get things just so for the beginning of term.

"Excuse me Professor" the girl said politely "But Professor Snape wanted to borrow some divining rods if you have any."

Trelawney turned a malevolent eye on her.

"He has a cheek!" she hissed. "After the things he said…Don't touch that!" Krait had reached towards a large crystal ball.

Krait stiffened as if poleaxed and stood straight. She spoke in a harsh, croaking voice.

"Beware….beware the ides of March!" she cried. "Woe….death…..they fly from above and from below, within and without….thirteen times thirteen in number and yet uncountable as the flies of summer…." She gave a horrid gasp and slumped to the floor with her eyes open and staring.

Trelawney rushed over and knelt at her side; and Krait thrust into her thoughts, seeking a specific time, a specific memory, looking for the peculiarity that locked it away. Trelawney screamed and swayed; and Krait held her eyes ruthlessly until she found what she sought.

-/-

Trelawney came to as Krait was dragging her from the room.

"What's going on?" she shrieked.

"Reckon there must be bad air in there, Professor" said Krait. "I felt faint and passed out…and when I came to, you were lying beside me." She had learned how to obliviate now, having felt it a lack, and had blurred Trelawney's memory of her own legilimensy.

Trelawney peered at her owlishly.

"Don't you remember what you said?" she asked eagerly.

"Of course…I was asking to borrow divining rods" said Krait impatiently.

"You…you don't remember warning about the ides of March? The…the warning of death and attack? Oh my dear, I KNEW you were a true seer!" she burst into tears.

"I guess I'd better get you to Madam Pomfrey pretty quick" said Krait in a concerned voice. "I think you may have a chill….sounds like you're delirious to me." and she half dragged the excited witch to the hospital wing still babbling that Krait was a seer.

-/-

Krait reported to Harry and Severus as soon as she had inexorably handed Trelawney into the care of Madam Pomfrey.

"I managed to convince her with a load of incomprehensible and suitably mystical crap" she said cheerfully.

"How ever did you manage it?" asked Harry.

"I've been doing yours and Ron's Divination homework long enough…I might even put in for the OWL just for a laugh….sorry, moving swiftly on…." She said as Severus cleared his throat pointedly. "We know where you got to…the next bit is meaty…." She unfocused as she read through her own memories to get the words exactly right, and mimicked the harsh voice Trelawney had spoken in.

_"…And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives….the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"_

"Wow" said Harry. "Suitably cryptic. Does that add anything apart from the fact that it's him or me…which I think I'd already gathered?"

"You don't need the bravado for us, lad" said Severus quietly. "I felt your shock to hear it stated so baldly….even if deep down you did already realise it."

"Yeah…it's kind of hard. What if it is Neville though?"

"'The Dark Lord will MARK HIM as an equal'" said Krait. "He chose to believe it was you; so it became irrevocably you when he put the mark on you. If he had chosen Neville, he might have born that scar instead…or maybe HE would have died and then Fishface would have come after you…He knew who he thought was the most dangerous."

"Why? Neville comes from an old family doesn't he?"

"Yes, he's pure bred" said Severus. "YOU are half bred….so was Tom Riddle…maybe that was where he perceived the threat in hybrid vigour…"

"What power do I have that Fishface does not though? I'm pretty ordinary…I never get top marks in anything, even if I am doing better in potions these days…"

"Idiot" said Krait, impatiently. "It's old magic…the oldest. People LOVE you, you blithering twerp!"

"But….what can that do?"

"What but have people ready to bleed for you, die for you if necessary?" said Severus quietly. "The dark Lord cannot even understand the concept of love….lust, yes; but not love, romantic or platonic. To him all are motivated by base urges; he has never felt anything for anybody because he truly IS coldblooded in his feelings; save in the negative emotions. Your mother and my feelings for her helped to save me, Harry; and the fact that Albus Dumbledore has been like a father to me….Riddle has nothing, he never responded with affection to anyone in the orphanage where he was reared, I don't think, even were it a million times better than Krait's…there is a flaw in his very nature, I think, for of the two one might have expected Krait to be hard…that people will give their lives for you willingly not out of fearful worship but out of love for you is our ace in the hole."

Harry swallowed hard.

"But I don't WANT anyone to give their lives for me! I – I don't want to lose any of my friends…."

"Don't be afraid to admit to love too" said Krait. "It's not unmanly as younger lads like Ron might think…"

"Ron's my age…"

"No, you're a zillion years older than Ron…deep down where it counts. Of course you don't want those who love you, who you love to die; but we are prepared to do so. THAT is what counts. We'd as soon not either" she added candidly. "But accept that it is so. And that we CAN as well use our blood to protect each and every one of us. Or spend each and every one of us in your defence – because the alternative, Fishface winning, is too horrible to contemplate….Severus and I would die for our children as well as for you, that you would save them from HIM."

"It's a heavy responsibility to bear" said Severus "It's why Albus has kept you so much in the dark…but you are a big enough man to bear it."

"I suppose in a way I knew all this already….it makes it rather bald and uncompromising though." Said Harry. "Well! If it has to be done, it has to be done….it's left me with a dry mouth, coffee anyone?"

"You're a brave lad" said Severus softly. "James couldn't fault your courage, nor Lily your compassion…and I can't fault your growing common sense."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 on getting round having a baby**

Severus might have praised Harry's sense but Professor McGonagall questioned Krait's.

"My dear girl, I wish you had told me you were pregnant" she said, when she managed to corner Krait. "I said I would be here to talk to…"

"It never occurred to me" said Krait. "I told her father of course….nobody else seemed relevant."

"It's such a shame for you to give up your education when you're so talented" sighed McGonagall.

Krait frowned.

"Why would I be giving up my education?" she asked, bewildered. "She's no trouble and Sirri goes to her in the night, like the mums of girls who have their babies in school do….at least I'm over the age of consent, I can't see it would be good for thirteen year olds to have the responsibility of motherhood as well as schoolwork…why are you looking at me like that?"

"Is this sort of thing NORMAL in muggle schools?" Professor McGonagall was shocked.

"Not normal….but not uncommon especially on poorer estates…at least Severus and I are married, and I know who her father is and he's not about to butt out like a lot of teenage fathers do" said Krait. "I have a lot of support from my friends and surrogate family…where's the problem?"

"My dear, so many people will disapprove… there will be those who ask questions about why the Headmaster has not expelled you."

"I would care for the ill natured maunderings of the terminally uninformed why?" asked Krait irritably. "Severus and I might never have another chance. Do you grudge HIM that after all he's done?" she thrust her chin forward.

"Oh dear, no of course not!" McGonagall's face softened. "You have wrought such a change in him my dear….it's just rather impolitic."

Krait grinned.

"Not as impolitic as if we'd still had a High Inquisitor….Besides, I'm only a technical student to sucker my father; I rarely go to lessons except with Hagrid because I pick up more in the staffroom helping Severus correct assignments."

"Nooo there is that…but I wish you'd warned some of us all the same."

"If you won't teach me, I can't study my NEWTS; do you refuse to have me in your class when I turn up for them? Stop that Lilith" she admonished the baby as she wriggled into snake form. The child turned back sulkily. "Now I shall have to retie your nappy, you bad bratling" Krait scolded gently. McGonagall stared.

"She's an animagus already? I never heard of such a thing!"

"So Albus said… but nobody told Lilith that it's impossible. I guess it's because I did a fair bit of changing while I was pregnant….it would be handy if she wasn't but I guess that's life" said Krait through a mouthful of nappy pin. "Are you going to refuse to teach me?"

"No, of course not!" the Scots Animagus said brusquely. "I'm just pointing out you'll have to put up with some ill natured remarks. Obviously you cannot tell the world that you felt you should snatch some time of happiness together, it would give you quite away…and if you tell people who sired her it puts Severus' position as a teacher in jeopardy. You must be vague enough and accept the criticism I fear."

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, words will never hurt me" said Krait. "So I may get some nasty graffiti or bubotuber pus slung at me…I suppose one reason not to confide in an older woman in authority is the thought of the nuns flogging girls to make them miscarry…I'd never think such a thing of you, but habits run deep, you know….that's not going to be happening to me, so long as Fishface don't find out what's to worry about? I'll weather it, it'll be a nine day wonder if the staff don't even bother to mention it."

"Weel…I'll pass that suggestion on. I wish you the best of luck….but of course you'll put the babe over your schoolwork I'm sure."

"Naturally" said Krait. Her solution to the problem was very simple; she intended to place a mass confundment on the body of the school not to notice Lilith very much. It would be of less use over those who saw her daily; but it would help. Dumbledore wanted Severus to be as strong as possible; and for his wife and daughter to be near him would give him strength. She had no illusions that it was purely tolerance towards their love that made the Head flout the strict rules of propriety of the wizarding world. Albus was a good man; but he was also manipulative and ruthless. He could have almost been a Slytherin.

-/-

There was a communication from Voldemort just before the term opened; indeed the Hogwarts Express was on its way.

"My daughter…I have a task for you" the Dark Lord's thin voice said.

"I am ever at your disposal" said Krait.

"Naturally….I want you to talk to Potter about his scar, about how he came by it, what he knows about the prophecy concerning him….I want him curious enough to want to experience it for himself, to go to the Department of Mysteries….I will release my Death Eaters within a very few days, they will be able to take it from him then and deliver it to me….it may contain a clue to how best to defeat him. I had hoped to obtain it by other means….but only he can touch it."

"He's fairly dull and unimaginative" said Krait. "Dumbledore has tried to discourage him from being too curious, I suspect….maybe there's even a compulsion planted."

"Dumbledore would not do that, he would disapprove" Voldemort sneered. "Brainwashed though? It's possible…..Try to break through it. He's nosy enough in other respects"

"Yes my father" said Krait submissively. 

-/-

Krait was less squeamish than Dumbledore.

She had every intention of planting compulsions in the heads of Crabbe, Goyle and a boy called Nott above her general mass comfundment to discourage them from talking about, or writing to their families about her – and especially her baby. These three were the children of Death Eaters; and as such risked everything by their existence and possible communications. As none of them liked her, such a compulsion would be easy to introduce, following the lines that they did not even want to think about her much.

-/-

Having met the train and achieved her objective Krait was happy that her daughter was now less at risk. She nursed her unconcernedly at supper. Pansy Parkinson's eyes bulged in outrage. Pansy disliked Krait enough to see past a light confundment.

"You you SLUT!" she declared. "Flaunting your bastard like that…how DARE you? You should be expelled! However can Professor Dumbledore allow it? He is in his dotage like the Daily Prophet says!"

Krait raised an eyebrow.

"Try for accuracy, Parkinson" she drawled. "One can only refer to a child as a bastard if his or her parents are unwed….might I ask what is so momentous about the situation that warrants these unnatural hysterics? Anyone would think that you were being expected to care for Lilith or feed her….not that I'd permit you to do the latter, even if you were capable, I'd not want her poisoned with the milk of human unkindness…."

Parkinson gasped.

"How DARE you! This is a school, not a nursery for the offspring of foundlings – what do you mean, wed?"

"When two people of opposite gender perform a contract of a conjugal nature involving sharing of property, sexual congress and shared responsibility for rearing children it is called a wedding" Krait spoke as though to an idiot.

"Obviously I know what a wedding is!" Pansy was beside herself. "I mean, when were you married? How come? How come you're still here? It's – it's obscene!"

"If it were any of your business – which it isn't - I was married in the Summer. Lilith is early because of the Dragon's heart fumes I inhaled." It was true enough – as far as it went.

"But you couldn't be. If notice of your wedding had been posted at the ministry you'd have been expelled" Pansy was triumphant. "You're a lying slut!"

Krait sighed impatiently.

"I was married under muggle law….there are agreements that make it valid."

"You married a muggle? Honestly, I thought I knew the depths of your depravity!" Pansy pulled a face.

"Good grief, you actually have a four syllable word in your vocabulary? You surprise me." said Krait. "I said I was married under muggle law…not to a muggle. I agree that there would have to be exceptional circumstances to make a mixed marriage work. Parkinson, your skin is still as bad as when I last commented on it…"

"Threaten me all you like – but I must say this is FINE behaviour for a prefect!" said Parkinson sullenly.

Krait shrugged and passed a sated Lilith to Draco while she did up her robe. Parkinson blenched.

"DRACO? You married your cousin? So THAT's why it's been blinked at!" she said bitterly.

"Not at all" said Draco smoothly. "She's far too scary for me. Fond enough of my baby cousin though – providing I get to hand her back when she leaks"

"Coward" said Krait, amicably.

"Guilty" Draco agreed cheerfully.

-/-

More interest was felt by many of the school over Severus' extensive and livid scars than over Krait having a baby; she was, after all, well known to take a hand fostering Professor Snape's daughters, so an extra child was hardly, so far as the younger pupils were concerned at least, to be remarked upon. The confundment was hardly required amongst the youngest.

Dumbledore welcomed Professor Snape back after his time in St Mungo's and called for applause over his bravery in saving the school from being poisoned, which made Severus change colour several times in embarrassment. Most applause was polite enough, but there was more enthusiasm from the Muggle Studies Hobby group and especially the Blood Group. Dumbledore did not mention that Krait had also suffered some ill effects though having so nearly followed Severus; he thanked those who had helped the Potions Master in general terms and looked forward to a productive term.

There were some covert chuckles amongst certain members of the lower school that boded ill for their interpretation of the word 'productive'.

Bil Prince had acquired certain items during the holidays, which Dumbledore had made sure had been spent with her grandparents. He had threatened her father with action involving risking a minor and promised to have his first wife's death investigated by the Ministry if Prince did not comply. Bil knew little of the details, but was glad of the result; but placed more reliance for her future safety from her erratic parent in the plan she had concocted with Sirius. Meanwhile Krait turned a blind eye to her showing certain equipment to Abraxus and co. What they could want with karabiners, D-rings and strong rope Krait preferred not to speculate


	16. Chapter 16

_**Britspeak translation; abseiling = rappelling **_

**Chapter 16 Unpleasantness and teenage girls**

It was only a few days into term when David, noticing that Grace had not been around, ran her to earth in a dead faint in a girl's loo near Ravenclaw tower – David not bothering with niceties when he was worried about a friend – and her hands all over blood and burning. David attuned his blood to Draco's, he being a prefect, unencumbered by babies, fairly sensible and another bloke. Not that David reasoned through his choices quite so methodically; he merely rejected quickly Krait, Ron and Hermione, even though the latter two were Gryffindor prefects. He had no time for Hermione's inevitable lecture about being in a girl's loo, and Ron was likely to get upset.

Draco was angry; but put it aside as they carried the little girl to Madam Pomfrey.

The school nurse was horrified; and quickly investigated, to find that Grace was burned elsewhere as Bil had been the term before. The burns on her hands were words, hard and nasty ones.

"Poor babe, she'll bear that all her life!" said Madam Pomfrey furiously. Draco and David exchanged looks. By general consent, David drew Madam Pomfrey off to tell her how he had found Grace; and Draco gently dripped blood onto the terrible scars. David synchronised with him, and found a startled joining from others doing so.

Most of the blood group drifted up to sickbay as soon as was convenient; and David filled them in.

"Those Ravenclaw girls again" said Sirius, grimly. "I bet you."

"We need to ask her" said Severus. "Jumping to conclusions is not good….I've been guilty of it, and to assume makes an ass out of you and me as they say…"

Madam Pomfrey was not best pleased to have a selection of people in her hospital ward; and shoo'd out everyone but the teachers.

Grace had regained consciousness and had cried over Draco; but she remained adamant that she would not tell on who had done it, in case worse happened.

"Did they threaten you?" asked Severus coldly. Grace nodded.

"Was it those Ravenclaw girls?" he demanded. Grace turned her face away. She had heard about his reputation as a legilimens. He turned her face back gently. "Don't you trust me to take care of you, child? You are my ward."

"Yes sir, but it's only for convenience…I'm not really anyone's and besides, you're in Slytherin, not Ravenclaw" Grace said practically. "I still have to go to bed each night…."

Severus ground his teeth.

"You are someone's" he said. "I promised to take care of you…I've let you down. We'll blood you properly for the protection and damn any scruples I might have had over involving you!"

-/-

The matter was not proven, however; and Dumbledore raised it gravely next morning at breakfast. Bil's head went up sharply; and when Dumbledore asked if anyone could throw any light upon the affair she looked first at the Ravenclaw table, and seeing no movement rose purposefully to her feet and walked forward.

"Wilhelmina?" Dumbledore was profoundly shocked, and surprised.

"I didn't hurt Grace, but I bet I know who did" said Bil in great scorn. "It was Angelina Ashbury, Marjorie Stoup and Nicola Pudding. They couldn't get at the real person who played practical jokes on them so they picked on Grace, 'cos they have before….and that burning with wands thing is something they think they're real clever to do."

"Would those three young ladies care to approach?" said Dumbledore.

Ashbury glowered at Bil as she approached.

"You think you're clever, I suppose" she sneered

"No, I KNOW I'm clever" said Bil. "It runs in the family."

"She – Grace – is a pain!" whined Stoup. "She played loads of nasty tricks on us, she made our beds feel all rough, and filled out slippers with unnameable slime and made our clothe itch unbearably. She had to be punished!"

She got a kick from Ashbury for that admission.

"Wilhelmina? Can you explain these, ah, phenomena?" said Dumbledore.

"Yes sir. Crumbs UNDER the under sheet; jelly, not unnameable slime; and itching powder." Said Bil with aplomb.

Severus had his head in his hands in apparent despair over his cousin's behaviour; only Krait realised he was laughing helplessly.

Dumbledore schooled his own face.

"Could you explain to those of us who are less – ah – resourceful how a Slytherin or two and unspecified Gryffindors entered Ravenclaw Tower?" he asked.

"Oh yes, sir, providing I'm not called upon to name any alleged accomplices" said Bil.

Abrax, Kinat and Romulus got up.

"It was us" Abrax said ungrammatically. "We won't let you take the blame alone, Bil. We would have stood up sooner, only she hates being interrupted in mid flow…"

"That also runs in the family" murmured Dumbledore with a glance in Severus' direction.

"We abseiled" said Bil, succinctly. "We secured lines on the roof when we went up on brooms and abseiled down to the first open window we could find. It was easy enough."

"I see" said Dumbledore. "So, why did you target these girls?"

"Revenge" said Bil "I knew fine well they weren't going to leave me alone after they got caught 'cos they were heard plotting, and I wanted to get my retaliation in first."

Dumbledore turned away to mask a nasty fit of coughing. Severus' shoulders were shaking. The Headmaster turned back.

"You realise I shall be giving you all detention?" he said.

"Oh yes, you pay for your pleasure" said Bil cheerily, smiling at him. "But the boys ought not to 'cos I dragged them in on it."

"I don't doubt it" said Dumbledore dryly as the boys made protesting noises. "Any more than I doubt that they required much dragging… You can report to me after school, all four of you. And you three" his tone was suddenly icy "Will come to my office now….Professor Flitwick, perhaps you will be good enough to join me. There is a matter of nastiness far beyond schoolgirl pranks to be dealt with."

Severus stopped laughing abruptly at the thought of Grace's pain – and what she would have had to bear had not the Blood Group been so powerful collectively. He gazed upon the Ravenclaw girls with a malevolence that, as Harry later described it, made his early feelings for him seem positively jovial.

The three girls left later that day.

-/-

Dumbledore fed the younger miscreants on tea, asked intelligent questions about abseiling, wondered how useful it would be to have several attachment points set about the castle, lectured them on taking the law into their own hands and got them to help him tidy up his office.

"He's a real duck" said Bil as they left.

"He's also thinking that muggle things might defeat nasty wizards….not just Fishface but Ministry creeps" said Abrax. "We should form a secret society…."

"We do" said Kinat, practically. "We're in the Muggle Studies Hobbies Group."

"Yeah, but more secret" said Abrax. "Just us….maybe one or two more. To – to take on Harry and co's mantle when they leave."

"If they survive to leave" said Romulus, the gloomy one.

"Well, there is that….I think we should get blooded….Ginny was saying they're bringing Grace in, if we turn up and slit out hands they can't turn us away….and if we take Ellie too, David'll be glad 'cos he's pretty gone on her."

It was voted a good scheme.

-/-

The Blood group met with the now traditional cauldron of cocoa; Hermione had also contributed some marshmallows to drop in the cocoa afterwards.

"As Severus has a sweet tooth" she said. "They're terribly bad for you, of course, I don't have to remind everybody to clean your teeth right afterwards, do I?"

Krait threw one of the cushions she had been making to add comfort to the bathroom at her.

Severus called

"TIME" effectively stopping the rest from following Krait's lead; and it began. Grace was enthusiastic and scared all at the same time; and David and Erich squeezed her hands before she slit her palm.

The five conspirators marched bloodily in.

"This is…." Said Severus

"Our decision" said Abrax. "Bil's part blooded anyway; Rom is your ward too; Kinat needs protection if anyone does; as does Ellie; and I'm related to half the people here. We CAN help Harry and we will."

"Get on with it, the best hour is passing" said Krait. "So they're insane…it's a requirement to be here."

-/-

The marshmallows were voted an outstanding success; and Hermione scolded the younger participants.

"Never mind" said Sirius. "You and Harry and Ron were no older when you went ferreting after the Philosopher's Stone. They have their eyes open; if they've been listening at the MSHG meetings they know what we represent and what it means."

"Bil has muggle grandparents; I have effectively muggle parents and Ellie has one muggle parent" said Abrax. "What sort of life will they have under Fishface? And you can bet Goblins will be no better off."

"Nor blood traitors" said Romulus.

"Besides it's done" said Severus. "I could wish not to risk such young children…I count the second years there too…but we have an objective that means that ideal conditions do not prevail. I dread to think what some of your parents might say though if they knew."

"MY dad would say 'do all you can to fight Fishface, son'" said Kinat. "And so would Grutch – Ellie's dad."

"I'll say" said Ellie. "He's not gone on wizards generally, but he's not going to get suckered into following a lying smarmy little toerag whatever dubious promises he offers to goblins."

"He's started that then?" asked Severus.

"Lucius Malfoy's been being all buddy-buddy at some goblin extremists…we live near Golgo, who's one of the loudest" said Ellie. "Daddy says he's all squeak and no trousers. Golgo, not Malfoy, that is."

"My parents would expect me to behave in a manner that reflected well on my school and with honour" said Abrax "And if that means being the one who gets into danger, they'd be ashamed of me if I didn't do all I could. They'd still love me" he added thoughtfully "But they'd be….disappointed if I missed an opportunity to give back something to the wonderful world that has accepted us…."

"what does my dad think?" Romulus asked Severus. "You are, now, aren't you?"

Severus blinked.

"I think I'm happy to be chosen as a dad by a brave son….by all my brave sons and daughters" he said, including Grace in the glance around at Erich, Jade and Lydia. "Grace, we'll have you re-hatted as Grace Snape….you aren't happy in Ravenclaw, you only wanted it because your family had always been Ravenclaws. Romulus, we'll change your name too. It shouts better than Lestrange-Symond in any case." He added dryly.

-/-

Harry was on his way out of Myrtle's loo to do his homework – Hermione's useful gift of a homework planner being as bossy as his friend herself and causing him no little irritation – when the searing pain in his scar stopped him in his tracks. Maniacal, jubilant laughter filled him…he was happier than he had been for fourteen years….

The blood pounded in Harry's ears, the laughter was NOT his, the feeling was NOT him, it was a part he carried in his mind only….he could step aside from it…his blood kin strengthened him and he applied the occlumency he had learned.

"He's happy" he said dully.

The others had caught up with him.

"They are out of Azkaban then" said Krait, coldly. "And so – it begins."

-/-

The News was all over the daily Prophet the next day with pictures of the eleven Death Eaters released and a catalogue of their crimes and a barbed comment hoping that Sirius Black might prove to have an alibi since one of those released was his cousin Bellatrix Black-Lestrange. Wormtail had the shortest list.

"Poor Wormtail, he's even pathetic in his grand gestures of evil" said Krait.

"How can you feel sorry for him?" asked Ron.

"How can I not? I loathe him and he makes me feel unclean, but he was so insidiously bullied at school….and that made him turn to Fishface. And he can't have enjoyed spending twelve years as a rat…."

"Bullied at school? Don't talk rot" said Ron, scornfully. "Why, he was friends with Padfoot and Harry's dad and Professor Lupin. They'd not let anyone bully him."

Krait didn't say anything; but Harry spoke in a low voice.

"My dad was – was rather, well, hearty….he didn't mean to bully Wormtail, I don't think….but he put him down a lot….Sirius and Moonie went along with whatever he said. I - well if you think about it, it's not a very nice nickname my dad saddled him with, is it?"

Ron and Hermione stared.

"How long have you known this?" Hermione asked.

"Since….since I found out that my dad wasn't universally popular because he – he picked on people" said Harry.

"Severus Snape?" Hermione asked.

"He…he asked me not to spread it about." Said Harry.

"Well! No wonder he wanted some revenge if your dad bullied him….he should have risen above it, of course" said Hermione "I suppose that you managed to talk it through and convince him that you weren't the arrogant type he thought – I always thought it was odd that he should call you arrogant."

"More or less" said Harry. "Okay, he let me watch some of his memories in the Pensieve…it was really brave of him to let me see and I'm not about to break that confidence by talking about it….I HATED my dad for a while….it made me feel really akin to Draco. I know he grew up and improved, or my mum wouldn't have loved him, so I'm happy to be proud of what he later did against Fishface; and I'd like to think that if he'd lived he'd have learned to get on with Severus like Padfoot does now."

"'Course he would, mate!" said Ron, warmly. "What is it Hermione?" the girl had given a sudden gasp.

"I was reading further on…I was listening too … and oh, it's horrible! That Mr Bode we saw on the ward has been murdered with a Devil's Snare plant the nurses assumed was a flitterbloom!"

Harry and Krait exchanged looks.

"He was an Unspeakable" said Harry. "He was the one Fishface Imperiused or paid to get my prophecy…."

"Let me see…" Krait took the paper. "Huh! Devil's Snare doesn't 'throttle instantly' and you know it Hermione. I betcha the plant taken in really was a flitterbloom rather than that the nurses made a mistake….did you see the plant?"

"I saw someone carry it in…."

"And Hermione Granger doesn't immediately recognise Devil's Snare – which you've dealt with in the chamber of the Philosopher's Stone, it's one of the few stories Ron gets to tell against you, forgetting you can conjure fire with your wand, - no I don't think so!" Krait was excited and ignored Hermione's dull flush and protesting noises. "Someone came in and killed him – maybe with Avada kedavra – and left the devils' snare in place of the harmless flitterbloom. Who in their right mind would try to murder someone with so chancy a method?" she finished with scorn.

"Good point….but where does it get us? The poor man's still dead" said Hermione.

"And if an owl were sent to Kingsley Shacklebolt, or Tonks or Moody, they could get wand to his body and see if there's any sign of whose wand killed him…if it was" said Krait. "I'm going to write to Moody. He's paranoid enough to take conspiracy theories seriously!"

-/-

To Grace, the news was less momentous than that she was re-hatted; and though she had thought about being in Slytherin with kind people like Draco, Krait and Severus she knew she would have no allies in her own year; and much as she might have like to be Gryffindor with David and Erich she was none too sure she had what it took. Which left Hufflepuff. She was surprised and gratified after due consideration the Hat declared her therefore for Gryffindor. Grace rather underestimated her own qualities and did not realise her own quiet bravery!

_who picked up the Babylon 5 reference then?_

_I've always been remarkably dubious about the story in the 'Prophet' about the killing of Bode; and it struck me as odd that people who have had closer acquaintance with the plant than is normal like Hermione, Ron and Harry should not have picked up on the fact that it does NOT instantly throttle; and would Hermione, seeing a devil's snare carried onto the ward REALLY fail to identify it? Somehow I don't think so. I presume this was one of the sub-plots JKR had to leave out for want of space; and I'm sorry, I don't follow it up either but I want to make up to Hermione for being made to look a gormless dork. It's apparent he was killed by whoever used him to try to get at the prophecy on behalf of Voldy; and the aurors are capable of tracking down an individual. Team Deathwish does not need to get involved._

_Maybe I'll write it up some time as an auror tale and invent some Wizarding World Hercule Poirot. Or just run with Moody. That could be fun._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 Apportation and its attendant woes**

After the announcement of the release of the Deatheaters, Krait made sure to find time to give to Neville. The picture of the insolent eyed woman who had tortured his parents into insensibility had filled him with a smouldering anger; and strangely he seemed to have struck up a closer friendship with Draco. When Krait found them practising counters to Avocado Kedavra it became much clearer.

"We should, all of us older ones, practice resistance to the cruciatus curse too" said Draco "So at least we have a chance of functioning…."

"You don't function" said Krait flatly. "You learn to deal with the pain and compartmentalise it outside yourself to recover quicker when it's over….and how to retain your sense of self, and self worth."

"Would my parents have been all right if they'd practised?" asked Neville. Krait hesitated.

"I – I don't know…but I think the lengths Bellatrix Black-Lestrange went to were beyond what anyone could resist" she said honestly. "You could speculate that they might have had the opportunity to pull up a suicidal attack and stab the bitch….but playing the if game doesn't help anyone else and only sours you with might-have-beens that equally might not."

Neville nodded.

"All –all we can d-do is to be as good as we can be and be prepared for them" he said. "I CAN do magic, and I CAN fight!"

"Neville, you've got a will of iron in there" said Krait "And will is one of the things that counts for a wizard. Brother of mine, we can do it."

-/-

Apparation classes were advertised for those who were approaching their seventeenth birthdays or who had passed it; and Krait signed up immediately. The classes were taken by a thin, resigned looking man from the Ministry of magic; and involved the class standing in hoops and willing themselves out of them to one side. This seemed a terribly easy exercise to start with to Krait; but with a large class perhaps the Apparator wanted to make sure they could do the easy things first.

Krait was astounded, having apparated out of her hoop to be pointed at excitedly and hear

"Yes….like that young lady there, by Paracelsus, exactly like that! What is your name, young lady?"

"Krait Malfoy" said Krait.

"Very well done, Miss Malfoy! Can you get back in the hoop?"

Krait apparated back into the hoop.

"It's easy enough" she said. "The distance being negligible there are few enough terms to add to the integral derived from _i_πr3 after all."

The man from the ministry gave a rather glassy smile.

"Er…yes" he said.

Krait got the impression that maybe he did not like arithmancy.

-/-

They were not supposed to practise on their own of course; not that this rule ever stopped the odd idiot as the man from the ministry said gloomily when Dumbledore summoned him back to see what could be done in the classroom that had accidentally been partially opened to Basingstoke railway station.

The greatest sufferer from the accident was not the culprit – who made himself quietly scarce and remained nameless – but Professor Binns. The classroom which was partly in Basingstoke was firmly locked; but it was a room Binns passed through on his way to the History room and he was unfortunate enough to meet the eleven-forty-one as he passed and arrived for his lesson missing several parts of his already insubstantial person. Binns retired to the staffroom and refused to come out. The History classroom continued to have the regular interruptions from the intercity and sounds of distant shunting; which the pupils got used to soon enough but which quite unnerved the emergency History teacher.

He was a young man, rather good looking, and attracted plenty of simpers from older girls who suddenly found so much more to be interested in, in history! His name was Ambrose Lector, and he was promptly christened 'Hannibal' by Abrax and his friends. He was also a far better teacher than Binns, and made history live. Especially once he got over his distaste for the interruption of the horns of the diesels and the roar of their wheels.

"Shame to waste all that noise" Abrax said to the others. "You can hear words in the wheels if you let yourself…..look, nobody says Fishface's name because he might hear – but suppose he was drowned in the sound of it all the time? If all the trains we could get our hands on said it….."

Krait had meantime spoken to Professor Vector; and had volunteered to help work out the best arithmantic time for the combined wizards of Hogwarts to shut the hole. They thought it would take about a year, but Krait wanted to go to Basingstoke to check.

Abrax asked permission to go along. As her cousin.

"What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously.

Abrax considered playing innocent, but discarded that as impractical. He told the truth.

Krait laughed.

"What a wonderful idea….and have the wheels go 'Tom-MArvolo-RIDdle-iddle-iddle' over the points" she suggested. "It's under age magic of course; so I'm afraid we'll have to pass it to Severus and Padfoot to perform unless you want to be expelled. I expect they'd like advice of how to do it though – so long as you leave your wand at school" she added to assuage Abraxus' stricken look of disappointment.

Abraxus was disappointed; but nor did he want to be expelled.

And that the grown ups thought it an idea little short of genius did cheer him up!

Krait also wanted to ride a few trains up and down in the hopes of finding the rest of the unfortunate Binns.

"The shock is enough to suggest to him he takes an extended sabbatical anyway" she said "So we don't lose, er, Hannibal. Only I can touch insubstantial people because of my transfiguration abilities."

Krait was lucky enough to find all the missing parts of Binns wriggling unhappily under a seat of the regular London commuter; and duly picked them up. She took them directly to the staff room on her return and knocked at the door.

Severus let her in; and she smiled at him and displayed her find.

Professor Binns was sitting disconsolately by the fire, missing a foot and ankle, the same arm from the elbow down and an ear.

"Sir, I believe these are yours…" said Krait.

Binns looked up apathetically; then for the first time anyone could remember he smiled.

"My dear girl….my dear girl…" he kept saying. Krait helped him to put himself back together and said,

"This has been a terrible experience for you sir…I hope Professor Dumbledore will be understanding enough to let you take an extended sabbatical to recover….you mustn't think of our needs until you are feeling quite all right again…."

"A Sabbatical? I never…why, I do believe it might make me feel better…" Binns blinked owlishly.

Krait smiled at him approvingly.

-/-

Abrax and his crowd were overjoyed to sit in History and hear the ten-seventeen shouting

"Voldemort-voldemort-voldemort-VOLDEMORT-VOLDEMORT-VOLDEMORT-Tom-RIDDLE-iddle-iddle-iddle-demort!" as it rushed through.

Hannibal dropped his chalk however and took a little while to regain his composure.

-/-

Harry meanwhile had another dream; this one he controlled, stood aside from the feeling of being Voldemort and watched him interrogate Rookwood, terrified of punishment, explaining that Avery should have known that Bode could not remove the prophecy; saw Voldemort exonerate Rookwood from blame and stepped hastily aside before Avery was punished. He was still aware of it happening though, as he reported to the others.

"I always know…and when it's people I love like Krait and Severus I can almost feel it" he said.

"We always try to block from the rest of you" said Severus.

"I can feel him….it opens up more, I guess" said Harry. Krait touched his arm.

"You shouldn't block" said Neville. "Not from us older ones….if we can learn to take it, we can learn to share it around…being able to do that and do it fast might mean someone HE thinks is helpless could act!"

"He's right!" said Krait excitedly. "If you can do it….Neville, I know how sure you are, you didn't stammer once there…we should practise, and practise taking varying amounts from each other. That's a blood group secret though, like Avocado Kadavra…. Any progress?"

"_Speculum_ has good results" said Draco "and using hovering charms to chuck stuff in the way."

"What about making air solid, freezing it or something?" suggested Krait.

"Worth trying….you'll have to work with us on that, transfigurations are your speciality."

"You've all got my blood to call on…we've a little bit of each of us, every one of us." Said Krait.

"Yeah, but we've all each got our own specialities as well….we've shared some but without diminishing" said Draco. "Nobody charms inanimate objects to fly as well as I do…or does switching charms like Hermione….and so on."

"I don't have any specialities" said Neville.

"Oh yes you do" said Krait. "You have implacability before evil….you are an anchor man for us and you also notice small detail. You will be directing others whilst backing us up because you see things."

Neville went pink and looked pleased.

"Switching charms aren't much help" said Hermione "Though I'm quite good at all transfigurations…"

"And Arithmancy….besides, I'd love to see the Death Eaters' faces if they collectively had their wands switched for sticks of blackpool rock" grinned Krait. "Yeah, we all have our talents and it's about time we duelled more seriously to hone them and work them together….David started showing us some martial arts he learned before his parents died, and Abrax has been doing Kung Fu at a club; if we can learn more we can add that to duelling….it may be against the code duello, but if we're fighting for real, like we'll need that why!"

The blood group consequently picked up its level of training in the morning MSHG meetings; and few enough of the other outer members cared to join in the serious and bruising duels!

-/-/-/-

Nobody was particularly aware that somebody was playing tricks on Sybil Trelawney until she decided that Bil was the culprit – on the 'evidence' that the little girl had played tricks before – and not only refused to believe Bil's protestations of innocence but added to her punishment.

Sirius felt the child's exhaustion and distress first; and he was up the stairs to Trelawney's tower room in time to see the child faint from exhaustion having been standing for almost two hours writing 'I must not tell lies or play tricks' on the blackboard. He caught Bil up in his arms with an

"I'll deal with YOU later" to Trelawney and bore his favourite off to Madam Pomfrey. For Bil was a favourite of Sirius; at first she had been a chore, taken on because he wanted to make the gesture to Severus; and gradually he had come to enjoy her company at her carefully contrived detentions and flying cross-country, making often shrewd and usually pithily cynical little remarks to him. He knew the blood joining he had made with her at Christmas had brought them closer; and she was still weak from that icy immersion, on top of earlier illness, strengthening though she was with good food and exercise and love. And his heart was in his mouth when he saw how white she was.

He met Professor McGonagall on the way, and sounded off; and it was later reported that when Trelawney also met with McGonagall and whined about some cheeky brat being given all her own way that McGonagall had, in Abrax's idiom 'clocked the old fool one'

Certainly Madam Trelawney sported a black eye at supper; and Madam McGonagall's demeanour towards her was cool in the extreme.

Bil came to in bed and looked up at Sirius to gasp

"Oh Padfoot, my legs do hurt so!"

"Not hardly surprising" said Sirius grimly. "That's it, it's the last straw….David and I have already had to go sniffing after the trail of one of your year mates because the old fool told the child her mother wasn't likely to live the term, and the kid with a sick mother at that!"

"That's what happened to Kelsie was it?" Bil gasped. "Her dad died of doxy stings…he had an allergy …and her mum was badly hurt by them rescuing Kelsie 'cos she's allergic too!"

"Yeah….Fido and me went dog and used Geomancy as well to track her" said Sirius. "I KNOW Dumbledore likes to keep her as a pensioner as it were because she made the prophecy….but she's an evil old bat. He could pension her off in a house in Hogsmeade and let her read fortunes for the imbecilic who like that sort of thing if he must take care of her, but she's going!" his voice was grim. "My betrothed is not going to be the butt of her spite!"

Bil sighed with satisfaction.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Mention of sex in passing**_

**Chapter 18 Lord Convolvumort **

The Upper forms put on an impromptu talent contest at the half term weekend; and invited a team from the Wizarding Wireless to attend.

Krait, a devotee of The Corrs sang 'Tempt me, Tease me' without taking her eyes from Severus; he stayed well out of sight at the back to hide his blushes and blinking hard to control his emotion. That the song was particularly special for them, containing the line "And if there's no tomorrow, and all we have is here and now, I'm happy just to hold you, it's all I ever want somehow" brought a poignancy to her performance; for she was singing for only one person in the room.

There were poetry recitals and songs; the glee club did their party piece, 'Double, double'; and were extremely put out at the climax 'something wicked this way comes' when a large number of watching first years shouted "It's Professor Snape!" Abrax having gleaned some stories of Krait's own first year at Hogwarts from Severus, in an unbending mood, and being sick of the rather self satisfied Glee club and their interminable practising. David had said, unkindly, that Snape had only told them that story because the Professor himself did not care for the Glee Club and loathed that particular song; and Abrax and co acknowledged that David was shrewd enough to have the right of it, but went ahead anyway because they liked Professor Snape and disliked the Glee Club.

The rest of the audience thought that was all part of the entertainment and laughed and clapped uproariously, though with an eye out for the eponymous professor. The Glee Club left the stage in dudgeon so high they didn't, as Krait said, need hovering charms.

The climax of the show was a cloaked, masked figure accompanied by a cardboard troll.

"Good evening" it said in a high, thin voice. "My name is Lord Convolvumort, the greatest wizard on earth!"

"Youse int on de erf, boss, youse is on floorboards" said the cardboard troll in a hollow voice.

"Shut up, shut up oaf! I will obliteeriate…uh, obluter…I will kill you nastily!" the voice was a shrill shriek. "I have an evil plan –laugh, then!" he demanded.

"Uh…ho-ho-ho" said the troll mirthlessly.

"I suppose it will have to do…my greatest enemy is the famous Hairy Pimple who is a great spot on my escutcheon…he and his protector Professor Glumblebum!" declared Convolvumort. "But I who am lord of UTTER DARKNESS (and small white flowers) will prevail!" sparks flew through the over-long sleeves of the robe, setting it on fire, to the high pitched howls of anguish of the Lord of Utter Darkness and small white flowers. When it was under control he said "I have heard tell that Hairy Pimple's life is not very happy….he gets on the wrong side of one of the other professors, Professor Spurious Snake, a man of infinite resource and unkindness…I must get to know this professor, maybe I should invite him to tea and talk dirty potions together…anyone who can be voted world's most hated professor three years running can't be all bad I say! And, I hear, Pimple has other friends besides Glumbumble, the man recently released from Astrakhan and so temporarily without any fur, Starriest Crack, a man some think that the light shines out of his….well, the name says it all!" He paused for the chuckles at the crudity to die down and went on "And of course there are his favourite cohorts, Red Ferrrety and Hermetica Grudgeblood; but I will prevail over Glumbumble and Pimple and their friends, because I AM the greatest wizard on earth – or the floorboards" he added hastily, glaring at the cardboard troll "And my dirteaters are my greatest friends! They'd better be or I'll blast them with my wand! Do not let goody-goody Hairy Pimple sway you, my children, from thoughts of UTTER EVIL and doing nasty things to your teachers with unspeakable spells…oh dear, I suppose you couldn't pronounce unspeakable spells….well you can tie them up and force them to eat cabbage instead!" and with a maniacal laugh and a flash the stage was dark.

Harry was laughing so much tears rolled down his face.

Those pupils close enough to nervously eye Professor Snape were startled to see that he was laughing uproariously too. Dumbledore wiped his eyes and led the applause.

"Who was it?" people wondered. "Was it Potter himself?"

Others quickly pointed out that Potter had been in the audience with Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. The identity of Convolvumort was a mystery.

The Wizarding Wireless crew were ecstatic, and quickly sought out Dumbledore.

"Always looking for new material….priceless….wonderful voice… would your pupil do a series of sketches?"

Dumbledore knew very well that Convolvumort was Draco Malfoy.

"I will put out word in the upper forms" he said. "For reasons of safety, I have been told that the actor wishes to remain anonymous…but he might be prevailed upon, so long as his anonymity is preserved."

In fact he knew that Draco would be delighted; it was for this reason Wizarding Wireless had been invited, to give a chance to Hogwarts to get out its own counter-propaganda; and Dumbledore had approved, so long as Draco was prepared to take the risk.

Draco had shrugged.

"I want to break the cycle of destruction my family has embarked upon…to restore honour to the name of Malfoy" he said proudly. "In due course, revealing who Convolvumort really is might drive the dark lord into an insane move before he is ready."

"Mmm" said Dumbledore non-comittedly; but he smiled warm approval on Draco. It was good to see the cowardly and vain boy who had first come to Hogwarts shine like this – with the true potential of the Malfoy family.

-/-

Trelawney had vanished quietly from the scene - "Hail and fair-ill to Powerless Polly-put-the-kettle-on" as Abrax said - and was replaced by another elderly woman, Madame Spikenard, who was tidy, neat in her manner and threw away almost everything in the Divination room. Her first lesson made her popular with all ages, for she attuned divining rods to chocolate and sent them all out into the grounds divining for chocolate galleons. Ginny Weasley, hitherto uninterested in Divination, amassed such a vast pile she was popular for weeks. Kinat took a deep interest in the idea that you could divine for anything; but as he only found a crumpled chocolate frog card and a large assortment of broken glass had to regretfully admit that he was unlikely to make a fortune from gold if he couldn't even find chocolate.

-/-

Krait and Severus suffered a searching interview with Voldemort; who had heard the last part of the Wizarding Wireless broadcast of the recording of Draco's performance; Krait said truthfully that the perpetrator had been hooded and masked, and had come on while she was in the dressing room changing back into school things, and she had only heard muffled laughter to which she was scarcely attending because she was rescuing Lavender Brown from a too tight costume before she wet herself. Severus excused himself saying that he could scarcely make a scene of it, and that doubtless it would all die down, for the threat of the Death Eaters would scare people into not listening to such trash. Voldemort nodded several times.

"I will have the Wizarding Wireless director killed messily" he said.

"Won't that make the thing more important than it is?" said Krait, hiding her horror. "To ignore it is far more dignified….not let the world think we are afraid of the ruderies of some schoolboy."

Voldemort pursed his thin lips.

"Perhaps you are right. As you say, it will blow over."

As Draco and Krait were thrashing out several half hour episodes including David as Tuurd the Troll and Grace, who had volunteered as Leaky, the ineffectual house elf she knew that it would not; and prayed silently that the Wizarding Wireless had good security.

-/-

It was a few days later that Emmeline Greengrasse started behaving a little strangely; and in the morning MSHG meeting said

"I - I don't want to tell anyone anything!" she looked beseechingly at Krait.

"Ah" said Krait.

It took hardly any time to find the compulsion.

"He's getting careless" said Krait.

"He doesn't consider her important enough to bother over" said Severus. "There, that's removed…what has he been having you do?"

Emmeline breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just asking questions….he wanted to know who had been Lord Convolvumort, but I have no idea, and so I told him…he pressed me, but I couldn't tell what I didn't know."

The identity of Draco as Lord Convolvumort was a closely guarded secret; and only Harry, David, Grace, Krait, Severus and Dumbledore knew, it had not even been disclosed to the rest of the Blood Group yet, though most of them had a shrewd idea. As Krait had said, they could then truthfully deny knowing in the presence of a legilimens.

"Perhaps we'd better blood you in" said Krait.

Emmeline shook her head violently.

"I'm happy to be on the periphery but I don't want to be part of that!" she said vehemently. "It's too intense!"

"Your choice" said Krait. "I'll set Septimus to watch you…if he summons you, go; and I'll follow and make a scene."

-/-

Septimus duly roused Krait from her sleep in the small hours; and she slipped out behind the figure of Emmeline, walking like a sleepwalker. Off school premises she met with the tall, repulsive figure of Voldemort.

Krait stepped out right alongside her.

"Does my father hold the Greengrasse girls in more esteem and trust than his own daughter?" she asked coldly. "If so I should like to know, and I should like to know, if you please, what errors I might have made that lead to your lack of esteem."

Voldemort looked at her thoughtfully.

"She was convenient because I have touched the mind of her sister…familial connections are easier to exploit. As you could not help me with the identity of the….satirist…I hoped she might."

"I have engaged in enquiries…nobody seems to know. Potter, if he knows, is not telling; there are those who saw Potter in the audience – or thought they did. I am inclined to believe that he prevailed on somebody to take Polyjuice Potion to make the semblance of Potter in the audience, someone who now realises what danger he or she was tricked into… I am working on finding out for you, father." Krait said, levelly. "Whoever it is does not know much, which is a relief; they linked Severus to you as a natural ally only, it seems, because he is a harsh disciplinarian and not popular. They have some knowledge about Black; but a great many people do. To impose your will on the girl seems an excessive risk to take. Let me take her back to bed and try my hand at blanking her memory of this; I promise if I am unsuccessful I will have Severus do it."

Voldemort regarded her unwinkingly from his red eyes.

"Very well. She is nothing, do with her as you see fit." He dissapparated.

Krait took Emmeline by the arm and hustled her off, giving her no time to speak; back in Slytherin house she said

"We could not know if Nagini were still there watching."

Emmeline shook with sobs; and Krait sighed and took her to Severus' office to pacify her with cocoa. Her father had given her more information; that familial connections were easier to exploit. Did he use compulsion to hold his Death Eaters closer? Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange were sisters…Bellatrix' husband had a brother…that they had been drawn initially to Tom Riddle by the force of his personality Krait had no doubt, but were those closest to him held by more? She knew he had laid a light but insidious compulsion – he thought – within her own mind, a habit of obedience and submission to him. She and Severus had cleared it away as her father laid it, using her deep understanding of occlumency gained from her lover, and their link to make it easier to both see and remove it. She had carefully behaved more submissively towards her father to make him feel that it had worked, wording any protests or suggestions more tactfully.

She must winnow through Severus' mind to check if there was anything so deeply buried they had failed to see it; and her experience digging the prophecy out of Trelawney would help there!

-/-

After despatching Emmeline back to bed – with her own carefully introduced compulsion to tell her, Krait, if she had her head interfered with again (for Voldemort would, if he found such, only take it as a natural precaution on the part of his daughter) – Krait climbed into bed beside Severus, who blinked sleepily and smiled at her.

"Not that I'm displeased to see you, though your cold feet I welcome less, but weren't we being circumspect during the week?" he said, running a hand down her body.

Krait shivered pleasurably.

"Business before pleasure I'm afraid" she said regretfully. "I had a thought…I need to deep legilimens you."

It was subtle, deep, and so well hidden that Krait almost missed it.

It was a command word that meant instant, instinctive obedience; and it had been there a long, long time.

"If he triggered this you might even kill me before you thought" said Krait, horrified. "Is this in case any of his people balked at doing his bidding?"

"He used families…I wonder if this was more if any of us balked at punishing family members or friends" said Severus, who was shaken. "If more Death Eaters knew of this, I wonder if it would shake their loyalty?"

"We may need to explore their own compulsions, if we can, to find their command words…he's tied it to your anger and frustration and feelings of inadequacy, I believe" said Krait excitedly "It actually fuelled your dislike for Harry, poked your memory hard…."

"But I love you enough and trusted you enough when you told me to open to Harry to overcome it…you are right, it was my own foolishness that caused the rift, but this fuelled it." He said. "All the soft words the dark lord used when persuading people how unfair the world was to them…all twisted in with his own purposes, not for immediate use but for ongoing ties; there are lesions in those ties, some that I made for myself when I wrested myself away from him, the horror of what he planned to do to the Potters overcame my dislike for James; and then, your love for me has forged deeper, stronger ties of a far more enduring and greater nature. Duplicitous little worm!"

"That's God's own truth….it's sorted now, and I think, you know, that you're talking too much…" Krait wriggled against him; and Severus gave up the unequal contest of refusing her desires without a struggle.

_I don't own the Corrs either but I did buy the albums and didn't pirate them...crediting them for my use of their lyrics_


	19. Chapter 19

_**The word Huorn belongs to JRR Tolkein and I have stolen it a little bit because it says exactly what I mean and everyone has a picture of it in their heads. And I'm not creative enough to think of anything better.**_

**Chapter 19 Huorns**

It was David who spoke first to Hagrid, and then to the MSHG that there were extra trees outside the usual perimeter of the Forbidden Forest.

Everyone trooped down to take a look and found Hagrid observing them gloomily. They retreated back up the hill.

"Professor Snape….Sirius…look like we hev a bit o' a problem" the gigantic man said. "See here, these trees beant nat'ral. They looks to me like Huorns."

"Huorns? In England?" Severus was shocked. "I thought they were confined to the Black Forest in Germany and a few eastern lands."

"Ar, see, normally they 'oould be" said Hagrid "'ceptin' that all magical forests hev some degree of magical connection….they dint orta come through, but look like they hev."

Several people exchanged looks.

"Are they dangerous?" asked Hermione.

"Well, they're flesh eaters, see…and they are supposed to be quite malevolent t'wards mankind too." Said Hagrid scratching his wild head. "And one or two might not be too much problem…but I've bin inside and I lost count around a dozen….They're resistant ter magic, which makes 'em kinda hard ter deal with."

"Could someone have opened the, er, connection and persuaded some to come through?" asked Harry.

"Oh, yeah, though I'm not so sure 'bout persuadin' them…."

"What if someone mentioned a nice source of protein of tender young humans?" said Draco.

"Well….that might fetch 'em. Mr Malfoy…" Hagrid was still adjusting to Draco asking sensible questions of him. "Who'd want to though? That beats me."

Erich and David exchanged a look.

"ODESSA" muttered Erich to his friend in an undertone. "Or just Father's relatives….."

"Why here?" asked David, equally quietly. "Why not go after Fishface?"

"To hit at things English? To spread terror? To hit his daughter? Because they found out dad has taken me here and blame Hogwarts? Because they know someone engineered the whole France-Germany conflict? To test the idea out? To be an act of good faith towards Fishface by attacking Dumbledore? Any number and combination of those ideas even!"

"What action are we going to take?" Hermione was asking loudly. "If they're immune to magic, that'd make their natural foe fire difficult to use…"

"Paraquot?" suggested Krait.

"What?" said Severus.

"Weed killer. Industrial strength weed killer."

"And fast" said David. "There are more since this morning and they've moved."

"Getting it to them's a problem…." Said Severus. "They are at least semi-sentient Dark Creatures and they would take steps to protect themselves."

"Can you make a strong specific potion to kill them, sir?" asked David.

"Yes….with help I might even have it in sufficient quantities."

"And what about accelerants? Like petrol? Hermione pointed out fire is the enemy of trees, it need not be magical…"

"The transfiguration from water with some carboniferous material in is simple" said Krait. "I like the way you're thinking….but delivery systems are a problem…."

"Gardeners' spray tanks" said David "Strapped onto brooms….people fly over and spray. And meantime, those of us that aren't so skilled can dig a ditch and fill it with brush….we can pour petrol in it and light it when they try to cross it. And we can use spraycans with petrol and light it with spells, those of us who can't do very powerful fire spells."

"Sirius, take him to garden centres and get him what he needs" said Krait. "Hermione, Draco, help Severus and me brew weedkiller. Someone better warn Professor Dumbledore….Harry, he likes you, keep talking real fast."

Harry grinned and hurried off.

"We're goin' to fight them are we?" said Hagrid. "What about these little nippers?" he indicated the first years.

"THEY are going to be behind the ditches in relative safety" said Krait, ignoring mutters of protest "With the responsible job of running messages until it starts and setting off the ditches at just the right time when it does. Some of them can supervise weedkiller refills. And in the meantime they can practise digging charms to get the defences in place – as they're so keen for a job."

"NOT what I had in mind" muttered Abrax.

"Don't knock it or she'll decide we needn't help at all" Kinat replied.

"Quite right Mr Konal" said Krait cheerfully.

If Professor Dumbledore had any misgivings about the defence of the school he voiced them to Severus and Sirius; and Severus intimated to Krait that they had both stood firm that the lower school members of the MSHG would do well to stay at a safe distance and learn by observation but would only get themselves deliberately into worse trouble if excluded.

The flying team consisted of Severus, Sirius, McGonagall – who was trying to pretend not to be as excited as any of her own juniors – Madam Hooch, Fred and George, Cho, Harry, Draco, Ron, Krait and Ginny. Ron opened his mouth when Ginny volunteered and shut it again when Krait kicked him hard in the ankle. Hermione and Neville were to direct the flame throwing crews.

Nobody had enlightened Dumbledore how large the jets could be from the heavy duty spray tanks David had liberally spent Sirius' money on.

Severus had muttered to himself about rush jobs and inadequate preparation; but had come up with a potion anyway that he had every expectation of working. The flyers strapped on their tanks and got ready as darkness fell; the juniors, bundled up in warm clothes lay silent at strategic points along the ditch, concentrated in threes to man the big pumped tanks.

Erskine had asked what everyone was up to, in a half sneering way; and after a moment's hesitation, Abrax had told him. Erskine had fetched his coat with the laconic comment that presumably another pair of hands wouldn't come amiss.

Derwent and Porteous did not accompany him.

-/-

Dark had well fallen when the creaking noise indicated that the trees were on the move. The order had been sent around 'don't fire 'til you see the whites of their, er, knots' which had amused the muggleborn and had to be explained to the rest. Discipline was good; and the flying crews stayed well out of sight until they were sure that the huorns were committed.

"If Hagrid counted a dozen or more it will be a stiff battle but the younger ones should not have to get involved at all" Professor McGonagall remarked quietly. "They are coming."

The line of tree-like creatures lurched forward creaking menacingly. McGonagall started counting

"One…two…three…" her face got wilder and her voice quieter until she turned. "Professor Dumbledore I believe I am not mistaken in saying that there are more than fifty of those creatures out there. Shall I tell the younger ones to go inside?"

"I fear, Minerva, if there are that many we may very well need their actions at the ditches after all" said Dumbledore. He looked shocked.

-/-

The huorns were now separated from the forbidden forest, a moving copse of malevolence. Krait was muttering under her breath about Birnham wood and Dunsinane Hill; and when she deemed the huorns to have come far enough to find breaking off hard she called as she thought appropriate,

"Lay on, Macduff! And cursed be he that first cries 'hold! Enough!'"

"Not a bad line considering you consider Shakespeare a hack" remarked Severus beside her.

"He had his moments" Krait shrugged. They rose up in formation and swooped purposefully towards the attackers.

"Dearly beloved…let us spray…" said Krait in a sing song churchey voice. She had no intention of letting her cohorts get too scared and freeze; these were deadly enemies.

As the weedkilling potion hit them, a thin soughing wail of distress arose from the attackers.

"Hit the roots, er, feet if you can!" Severus called, jinking neatly between two wildly flailing tree creatures to do just that.

"Be just like Devil's canyon back home…" a voice came from behind the ditches. He thought it was Abrax.

"They're like the Whomping Willow only more mobile" Harry called, dodging and jinking wildly. "Are they related?"

"In some respects….Sirius can do a lesson on them if you're interested" said Severus with a malicious grin at his friend.

"We're used to avoiding that at least…." Said Harry, doing a neat broomover and diving hard and fast at the base of one of the huorns.

"Crikey!" said Ron "I never saw the Wronski Feint used like that before!"

"You won't survive to see it again if you don't keep your mind on the job" came McGonagall's crisp voice. "Nice one Harry!"

The flying team had their hands full of staying out of the clutches of the flailing tree limbs whilst getting close enough to spray.

And the huorns came on.

"Work in pairs!" called Krait. "One spray to make them flinch, let the other get in close…Ginny, keep them off my back, I'm going in!"

Ginny sprayed at a large, black barked creature, which instinctively turned from her attack; and Krait dived between two of its retreating branches to deliver a hefty squirt to its base. It screamed, a rending sound like a tree falling. Quickly the group split into pairs, acknowledging who was the better flyer to do the dangerous close work as the less skilled covered for them. Fred and George had looked at each other and said

"_accio_ beaters!" and used their skills honed deflecting bludgers to physically beat back branches to cover Draco and Sirius. Ron covered Harry, Cho was covered by Madam Hooch – who had no intention of being left out – and McGonagall covered Severus, who was showing why he had been seeker for Slytherin House in his younger days.

And the huorns came on.

The weedkiller in the canisters was running out: the team covered each other as one or two at a time dropped back to have a full canister thrown up to them.

And the huorns came on.

The weedkiller was running out fast.

And still the huorns came on.

They were diminished, many were visibly hurt; but there were enough….

And then they were at the ditch; in it, crossing it contemptuously, effortlessly.

"FIRE!" shouted David.

Wands fired, not at the huorns but at the well petrol-soaked brushwood.

The flames leaped high into the night, illuminating it with a ghastly glare.

There were terrible, rending screams from the huorns in the ditches, flailing burning limbs wildly. Older members of the MSHG who were not flying fired spells at them, driving them back, not letting them bring fire and terror over the lip of the ditch. Those not yet committed hesitated, looking for some way around or over.

"FIRE TWO!" David activated the impromptu flame throwers with his second cry. Flames leaped the ditch in great jets, gouts of flame landing on the attacking huorns.

It was too much. With despairing screams the few remaining mobile huorns fled.

Harry called,

"Draco….seekers together!" he reached over and snatched up a flame thrower from one of the groups of youngsters, slinging it over his back. Draco did likewise; and they went in pursuit.

"If we stop them getting back, the enemy on the other side will never know what happened…only that they failed to return!" Harry explained. Draco nodded wordlessly, his usually pale face whiter than usual with excitement and not a little fear.

"Try not to piss off the centaurs by burning their place!" he called.

"Let's get them before they get in…we don't want to burn the whole forest…."

Krait looked at Severus; and they went in a more decorous pursuit, in common consent as backup for the boys if they needed it.

They did not.

Soon they were returning in weary triumph.

-/-

The fight was not without its injuries.

Several people had been burned with varying degrees of severity, a few badly enough to be confined in the hospital wing overnight; and little Dennis Creevey managed to trip and break his ankle running to exchange weedkiller canisters; but still got up to throw it to Sirius despite the pain. He was voted a 'hero of the muggle studies group' and awarded marshmallows. He grinned and declared it a great thing to write up for the school magazine.

-/-

"Any idea why?" Dumbledore asked the older youths later, after they had washed off the grime of battle, attended to small burns and contusions and Fred's broken fingers.

The Blood Group exchanged glances.

"Well….I guess ODESSA were pissed about Von Strang being done over by Death Eaters" said Krait "But I can't see how they'd find out we kind of engineered that….."

"Erich thinks" said Harry "That ODESSA may have been making a grand gesture to show goodwill towards Fishface….'there was a misunderstanding, look we have attacked your greatest enemy Professor Dumbledore, whom we also hate for defeating and incarcerating our leader, the Wizard Grindelwald' – that was news to me when Erich mentioned it - showing common ground. He and David were thrashing it out on the way back in and I eavesdropped." He grinned. "If they'd meant it to be kept private they'd have kept their voices down more."

"That makes a deal of sense" said Krait. "Ja, ve haf der German efficiency, no?" she put on a cod German accent. "Who was Grindelwald, herr ubermeister?"

Dumbledore gave her a reproving look but his eyes smiled kindly.

"Grindelwald was a German version of Voldemort" he said. "He, however, whilst keen on racial purity, believed in the concept of utilising muggles, if only as cannon fodder. His idea was to back the muggle dictator Adolf Hitler, encouraging him and his aide Himmler in belief in the occult, and taking over the rest of the wizarding world when all was in confusion after his muggle protégés had conquered the muggle world. He did not, however, confide all of his plans to his own lieutenants and so when I caught up with him and captured him in 1946 much of his scheme to wrest what he could of the failure of Hitler died with his incarceration. He has since died…. I know that he helped set up ODESSA – Organisation de SS Angehoren – to help men in a muggle unit called the SS to get away; because their loyalty was always absolute and he had groomed them to follow mysticism and magical thinking. It was to protect wizards too, and such have more recently usurped it. I suspect David Fraser can give you more details than I; but it explains why I should be a preferred target. Now I suggest you all go and take some rest….the younger ones are, I hope all asleep by now."

"Not hardly, if they're at all like we were" Ron muttered to Harry. "Not til they've heard what we've found out!"

Ron was found to have a more accurate expectation than Dumbledore and the juniors were only subdued by a brief resume of their elders' conversation with the head!

-/-

Voldemort contacted his minions at Hogwarts soon after.

"Tell me, my daughter, Severus" he said "Have you had any trouble with trees lately?"

"Not that wasn't easily dealt with" said Krait, airily. "It's an advantage of being in the same building as magical heavyweights like Dumbledore…we thought maybe ODESSA wanted revenge for Von Strang by going for your only daughter….some kind of message. But it backfired because of the protection that covers Potter….it was a nice little fight but nothing to get hot under the collar over."

"You let her join in?" Voldemort looked at Severus.

"I should manage how to keep her out?" drawled Severus. "Potter was in the thick of it…of course, he can't resist a show of heroics…it was edifying I suppose."

Voldemort pursed his thin lips.

"So the huorns were insufficient to cause any trouble?"

Severus and Krait exchanged glances and shrugged.

"Meh" said Krait expressively.

"Well….I shall know how to speak to ODESSA then" said Voldemort softly.

-/-

"Well" said Krait afterwards "If that WAS a diplomatic overture, not an attack on me – and the former seems more likely – he will not be pleased to ally with a group whose best effort is described as 'meh' by a teenage witch."

"Even though it would have gone badly without careful planning – and if we had stuck to magical defences." Said Severus. "Fraser is an extraordinarily good planner. And thoroughly ruthless. He's a great asset to the team."

"And if it was a plot of my father's and nothing to do with ODESSA at all we may have scared him some" said Krait cheerfully.

"Oh, I'm sure we've scared him some….he'll have checked up what huorns are capable of…" said Severus. "He'll assume the brunt of the attack was seen off by Dumbledore and will consequently fear him more. To our advantage; the more he concentrates on Dumbledore the less he will be aware of the group of youngsters ready to stab him in the underbelly."

"I think you're mixing your metaphors….but never mind" laughed Krait.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 towards the end of term**

Term was winding down when Krait received word that the unconscious Abigail Greengrasse was in labour; and proceeded via the floo network to St Mungo's to collect her half brother.

He was red faced and angry with a shock of dark hair; and with due consideration she bestowed the name Salazar upon him and bore him back to install him in her nursery with Lilith. Though Krait had revision to do for the few OWLs she would be taking, she was planning on spending the holiday devoted to babies and children! Severus too hoped that they might have a week or two of domestic bliss; but told her that he had no intention of expecting it, since that was likely to jinx any chances they might have of the same!

-/-

Meanwhile there had been another broadcast by Convolvumort.

It was close to the knuckle in some ways for Draco; but it helped him to deal with the anger he felt towards his family to some extent.

"I chuckle with glee to have my dirteaters at my beck and call again!" said the high foolish tones of Lord Convolvumort. He suited actions to words and managed a gurgling noise that Draco had perfected that Krait said sounded like someone vomiting marbles into a bucket. "I must see what I can do to get the most prominent members of society on my side as well; people like Loosearse Madboy and his idiot son Draggle who also does not like my ARCH ENEMY, Hairy Pimple! It is such a pity that a pure blood wizard of impeccable family like Draggle should be followed around by such a would-be girlfriend as Puggy Puke-inson; but then he has been cissified by his mother Daffydilly. Of course HER sister is Badtricks Crack-Theweird and she is my main squeeze you know! Ah, here is Leaky, my house elf: elf you must clean the house, curse the troll, stir the cauldron and feed my snake."

"Yes Master!" Grace had the high squeaky voice of an elf to perfection and managed to sound terminally adenoidal as well. "Leaky is always obedient; Leaky will clean the troll, curse the cauldron, feed the house and stir the snake."

"No NO NOOOO, IDIOT! Stupid little twerp! I would obliteerieate and kill you nastily only then I'd have to do my own housework and that is beneath a LORD OF UTTER DARKNESS (and small white flowers). You must clean the house, curse the troll, stir the cauldron and feed the snake."

"Yes master what I said; Leaky will clean the snake, curse the house, stir the troll and feed the cauldron."

There were sounds of incoherent shrieks of manic dismay; then Convolvumort said.

"Why me? Why me? This is why I need to enslave you ALL because you can't get the help these days!"

The security at the wizarding wireless had been increased and all the families of those who worked there had been taken to secure and unknown locations by the likes of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

-/-

Krait and Severus endured a tirade from a frothing Voldemort and Krait advanced a theory that Lord Convolvumort was not in fact a school child at all but had come in with the Wizarding Wireless team as a means of hiding their identity further and was more likely to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix who had knowledge of the school and who was there gleaned from such as Dumbledore.

"If indeed it isn't Dumbledore himself" said Krait "I wouldn't put it past him; he has at times a rather BASIC sense of humour; and condones silly pranks."

"There is that in what you say, daughter" said Voldemort; and Krait was relieved to catch with legilimensy the flash of thought that using the cruciatus curse on Severus and Krait would serve no end if Krait was right. And he was beginning to find her advice good enough in other respects and her speculations sufficiently interesting to believe she might even have the truth of it.

It all helped protect Draco.

-/-

It wanted yet a few days to term's end when Kinat brought a matter before the blood group.

"I think if anyone could read my mind I'd be pleased" he said in a scared, determined voice.

Severus looked at him.

"Legilimens" he said. "Ah…I see…Kinat has received a letter and the act of reading forces on him an Unbreakable Vow not to speak of it….it dissolved when read. He has been ordered to stand down from Hogwarts or his little sister Senagra will die horribly….they use her name, I think to prove they really have her…"

"What choice have I?" said Kinat bitterly. "I can talk about it now you have, I find….I could never guess where she was, so we can't rescue her."

"The owl that came to you today looked awfully like my family's owl" said Romulus suddenly. "I was scared it was for me, telling me I didn't belong to dad any more for some reason…."

"Anywhere on your family lands they might hide a goblin child?" asked Severus.

"Yes….an old ice house….Mordred used to lock me in it….can I go? I know the ground…"

-/-

Severus had called in Nymphadora Tonks to have the evidence of an auror when he apparated with Kinat and Romulus to the outskirts of the Lestrange-Symond estate. Romulus led them round cautiously so they would not be seen from the house.

"No point risking them killing her out of hand…" he whispered.

They achieved their objective easily, for it was overgrown; and the lessons with David had taught the group to move stealthily. Nymphadora was virtually dragged by Severus under several silencing spells; he knew how clumsy she was; and he made her bring up the rear.

Tonks was ruefully aware of her shortcomings and made no protest.

Kinat found a loose brick at the back.

"Senagra?" he called softly.

"Kinat?" a slightly quavery voice came from within.

"Stand back…." Said Kinat. "Rom and me are going to open a hole…"

"How were you planning on doing it?" asked Severus sharply. Kinat looked surprised.

"It's brick….that's made with clay….if we turn it to dried clay it'll just crumble."

Severus was heard to whisper to himself 'oh no, not another Krait….'

The transfiguration worked; and here Nymphadora was extremely useful.

"You lot cut along" she said "I'll get some back up and then bring these villains in…."

Severus nodded; and gladly apparated to Hogsmeade with his three passengers. It would be easier to return the little girl to the bosom of her family via floo.

Senagra seemed more shaken than hurt and gazed worshipfully at Rom, who had pulled her out.

"You're so brave" she said.

"My family…my responsibility" he said, flushing.

"I'm so looking forward to coming to Hogwarts in a few years!" Senagra told him. Severus grinned to himself. Romulus had just got himself an admirer….

-/-

Harry had been having more dreams about the Department of Mysteries; but knowing that they were designed to whet his curiosity had learned to shift his consciousness aside and watch them deliberately in a state of cynical amusement.

"He wants me to go…the thing is, what is he going to do to force me to go if I don't?" he asked. "He might do something drastic….but I can't think what!"

"Mmmm" said Severus. "So puzzling…oh no, too difficult to imagine that the one thing that's going to bring Harry Potter down running without engaging brain first is making him think someone he's fond of needs rescuing…."

Harry flushed.

"Am I truly so transparent, Severus?"

"My dear boy, you're a Gryffindor…it almost goes with the House. Besides, you have a track record….how did Tom Riddle get you into the Chamber of Secrets? A mystery, subtle communication from the basilisk, and Ginny Weasley vanishes…everyone banished to their houses but who is abroad to rescue Ginny? Her brother, her friend Hermione, and the only person who can understand the basilisk….who should know that IT is not interested in killing a pure-blood witch like Ginny….that there must therefore be something darker at work. Harry, your compassion does you credit, but it would be nice to think as you grow older you might take time to reflect and check EVERYTHING before you hit the ground running."

"He's a little impulsive, like his father" Sirius defended.

"Not as impulsive I believe and hope" said Severus "For if he is, he'll assuredly die and the dark lord will prevail. Fishface WILL as you have sensibly surmised use some way to force you to do as he pleases. I believe he will try to make you attempt some kind of rescue. That being so I suggest there are four people he knows of who he would attempt to use in a real, or simulated kidnap."

"Sirius of course" said Harry "Ron, who the Triwizard marked as the most valuable person in the world to me; Hermione…." He looked puzzled.

"Ginny" said Severus. "Whom he has already possessed…..he may try to do so again, not necessarily to take her to the Department of mysteries; she only has to conceal herself to make you BELIEVE she is there…"

"But I'd know she wasn't because I can feel exactly where….oh, of course" Harry grinned ruefully. "Stupid me, he doesn't know I can feel her in my blood."

"Quite" Severus beamed at him. "Our advantage."

"I don't want to be possessed again" said Ginny in a sick little voice.

"I don't think you can" said Krait. "That's why you've been studying occlumency….and the blood group can support you too."

"BUT" said Severus grimly "Ron is her brother; and Fishface let slip that compulsions on close family members are easier….and Ron has not studied Occlumency. We must be aware. I think Ron would be his second choice. Whatever happens alert the rest of us; we must be prepared. Just in case he decides on kidnap for real."

"Remember he's supposed to fancy me…." put in Krait. "We can't rule out the possibility that I shall be told to hide myself….it is the easiest option for him."

"But not necessarily the one he would enjoy the most" said Severus.


	21. Chapter 21

_**Krait never got told what is, and what is NOT impossible; and she IS Slytherin' heiress which makes a difference.**_

**Chapter 21 meet the relatives**

Krait found herself invited with Draco to spend a few days at Malfoy Manor as some relief from revision; reluctantly she agreed with every good semblance of pleasure in escaping from her workload.

"I want you to meet some relations, Krait" said Lucius.

"Three of them to be precise, I assume" said Krait dryly.

"You take my meaning. They are quite agog to meet you."

"Consumed with curiosity and wondering how jealous they should be, you mean" said Krait cynically. Lucius laughed.

"Nobody could ever accuse you of naïveté" he said.

-/-

Bellatrix Lestrange dominated the group which met Draco and Krait. She gazed scornfully from her heavy lidded dark eyes and tossed her dark mane. It was less matted than the picture of her from the Daily Prophet; and although she was still gaunt she was still a striking figure.

"That's her? she's no more than a babe, and a puling looking babe at that. Isn't that so ickle pwetty darling?" she said to Krait. Krait gazed thoughtfully at the woman as she felt for her with her will; and without removing her wand from her waistband nodded her head.

The raven croaked angrily.

The two men cried out in anger and fear.

"I don't like your sister-in-law much, Uncle Lucius" said Krait calmly.

"I prefer her in human form, dear niece" said Lucius, sounding calm but with a slight edge to his voice that proclaimed just how rattled he was.

"As you wish" Krait inclined her head to him. "As you ask nicely…Blood is important after all…" she waved her hand at Bellatrix.

"_Restoratum_"

Bellatrix was still hopping in anger when she resumed her own form.

"You!" she cried. "_Crucio!"_

_ "Protego!"_ Krait blocked the curse readily. "What is it pretty sweetums – afraid that fourteen years of Azkaban mean the Dark Lord won't invite you to his bed anymore and you're jealous of anyone who's young and pretty? I would care what happened to you why? You're only an in-law anyway."

"The dark lord relies on me…he knows I have always been faithful to him!" Bella hissed. "While Severus Snape wriggled his way out of trouble and now puts himself forward to produce an alleged daughter of the Master…"

Krait laughed.

"Nothing alleged about that, sweetlips, not unless you think I can simulate being a parselmouth to the world's most famous parselmouth. I am Slytherin's heiress, and I care nothing for the noble and mostly extinct house of Black. Who's to carry it on? Your mugglewed sister? Sirius Black? You're too old and Draco is a Malfoy, through and through."

The woman's fingers were talons.

"You…if it were not out of respect for Lucius I'd show you a thing or two…you can't hold up a shield spell forever!"

"You can't hold up the cruciatus curse forever either" taunted Krait. "I'm young and fit, old woman."

"Here- you look here!" said one of the Lestranges, Krait assumed Rodolphus.

"I'd rather not, it's not a pretty sight" said Krait, nastily. "Lucius, what does he want with these losers? If I'd been him I'd have left them there."

"They are all powerful and loyal wizards" said Lucius.

"mmmm" said Krait flatly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" screeched Bellatrix. "I'll teach you a lesson or two!" she unleashed her will on another cruciatus curse. Krait dodged neatly .

"THAT WILL DO!" Lucius commanded. "Bella – stop it! Krait – you too!"

Krait regarded him thoughtfully, letting her eyes become dead and snakelike, bringing the reddish glare into them that marked her father.

"She better not start up again any time, uncle Lucius" she said and stalked past him, past the Lestranges and on up the stairs. "Draco, you can show me my room."

-/-

"You're mad. Always knew it" said Draco.

"I am being his daughter. I must think as such. I do not permit the contumely of other women in his life. I am doubtless consumed with jealousy because of the trust he reposes in her; I am trying my limits" Krait explained. "I am also a Malfoy….the time has come to split the happy family of Death Eaters. Malfoy against the world…."

Draco groaned.

"You're going to get yourself killed."

"Meh. Maybe. We shall see how it goes….I need shades and to get that woman alone somewhere….she's the only dangerous Death Eater."

"How come?"

"She's a woman…your mother's first priority is you, NOT the dark lord. Bellatrix is utterly committed. With a woman's understanding of another woman, to wit, me. I need to dispose of her."

Draco shuddered.

"You scare me."

"I shan't kill her…that's why I need shades…" she left Draco none the wiser.

-/-

Krait's early morning rising habits permitted her to wait and watch and pick her time to confront Bellatrix. The woman wandered out into the garden before breakfast to smell the air; as Krait guessed she might. Confinement in Azkaban left one rather more addicted to such minor pleasures than might have otherwise been. Krait, in shades, walked out to greet her.

Bella's face took on a look of unholy glee.

"Well now! No Lucius here to rescue you now….whatever he might say!" she gloated, getting out her wand with deliberation. "Do you think that being an animagus will save you?" she scoffed as Krait's form shimmered.

Krait slipped into the ivory serpent easily; and then continued changing. The change was complex, it being into a magical creature rather than a mere animal; and she had besides to keep her shades unaltered and in place for the result she desired.

Bellatrix Lestrange stared at the basilisk and strove to gasp; but no sound came for she had been turned to stone.

"KRAIT!" Lucius' voice interrupted her.

Krait shimmered back into a human body, glad to be free of the disturbingly venomous feelings of the basilisk.

"What have you done?" gasped Lucius.

"I should have thought that was obvious" said Krait. "I retaliated quicker than the old dear could do her stuff…d'you think she'd make a good gargoyle if you stuck her on the roof? I mean, she'd erode a bit, but who'd notice…"

Lucius gulped off a laugh.

"Turn her back!" he commanded.

"Any idea how?" asked Krait.

Lucius stared

"But you…how exactly…surely you didn't turn into…."

"Why not, Uncle? I have the crest of the Basilisk Potter slew as my wand core…I am Slytherin's heiress….and above all I have the brains of the Malfoys, not the madness of the Gaunts. She is trouble. You are well to have her….indisposed."

"He'll be furious"

"Not if I can make him laugh….get rid of those idiots she carts along with her, uncle, they contaminate Mansion Malfoy."

"They are pure blooded…."

"Pure blooded arsewipes" said Krait forcefully. "She married him why? Not for children; they have none. Hardly for a matched mate. He was there for convenience in case she had my father's child, I betcha!"

He glared at her.

"Why does that matter?"

"Will you bow to her as your queen?" asked Krait. "Lording it over you and your wife and son….Cissy she called her at supper, but there was condescension already…she may be the older sister but even so…."

"If the Master wills it so then it shall be."

"Why Lucius! I never realised that the family Malfoy had become such weak willed supplicants in the weakening of its bloodline. Is it breakfast time yet? I seem to have worked up quite an appetite…." She smiled blithely at him and walked back into the house, leaving Lucius speechless and with a lot to ponder on.

-/-

Krait took herself into Lucius' study – without his permission – and sought out a communications globe similar to that her father had given Severus. She found it readily enough and activated it with a word.

"What is it Lucius…Krait? What are you up to?"

"Did you order the Lestrange woman to belittle me and practice her cruciatus curse on me?" Krait asked coolly.

"I did not. I take it you have rubbed her up the wrong way."

"I objected to her calling my identity into question…after all I take it as an insult to you that you should have been deceived…"

His red eyes narrowed.

"She said that?"

"Not in so many words….the implication was quite clear though…perhaps she feels that you are less since your restoration than before…I lost my cool a little, but Lucius asked us not to make a mess of his front hall…when she came upon me alone, however, she was determined to give me grief."

"Are you asking me to punish her?" he raised his non existent eyebrows. "I am not happy that she should so doubt my ability to know who my true daughter is…"

"No…I'm just asking if you feel it is in order for Lucius to hoist her to the roof for her job change to gargoyle…"

"What do you mean?"

"It occurred to me that I wanted immunity to her spells…a basilisk is only a kind of snake after all…and that if she were heavily disguised as a statue she'd not bother me anyway."

He stared.

"Do I understand" he said heavily "You TRANSFIGURED yourself into a Basilisk and turned her to stone?"

"I thought that's what I said" said Krait. "I'm not sure how to reverse it though….and I don't really want to anyway. She's more restful when her tongue is still."

Voldemort quickly reassessed his daughter.

"I would certainly have punished her for doubting me" he said in his cold thin voice. "As it is…you may do as you will with your new statue…I may need her presently, but Severus can brew a restoring potion. It requires Mandragora I believe….in the meantime, it would probably be a good idea not to break pieces off her."

"Then out of the elements is a good idea…I daresay Uncle Lucius could do with a new coatrack…a cloak over the face will improve her still further." Said Krait.

-/-

Narcissa was having hysterics when Krait came out of the office and flew at Krait. Krait muttered

"_Expelliarmus!"_ and Narcissa herself flew backwards. The girl added "I asked my father what I was to do and he suggested that keeping her out of the elements would minimise erosion…he said I could do with my new statue as I chose. Lucius, she'd be fine at the bottom of the stairs with a few cloaks hung over her, wouldn't she?"

Lucius gasped.

"He – he said that?"

"I pointed out that she had questioned his intellect over doubting my identity" she said. Lucius gave her a look that bordered on respect.

"You're a Malfoy all right" he said.

"My slippery friend….yes, I know his nickname for you…pure blood is all very well if it is not accompanied by pure bone between the ears" said Krait.

"The dark lord would not let her get away with this!" Rodolphus Lestrange declared.

"Wanna go ask him yourself, trollbreath?" asked Krait. "I can just see it…he'll so want to know if you three have been discussing how he's not like he used to be, can't even tell if his own daughter is his or not…he'll start to wonder if you've also been discussing replacing him….but feel free to complain, I'm not stopping you."

The Lestranges stared at her open mouthed; both turned white.

"There's no need to doubt your word" muttered Rabastan.

"How …sensible…of you" said Krait, smiling graciously. "Did you need help to pack? Only as Narcissa's sister is, er, indisposed, there's no further need for either of you to stay, is there?"

"They are here by my invitation" said Lucius.

"Well, naturally, uncle Lucius, you are at liberty to have whatever riffraff you want to stay in your own house" said Krait. "Forgive my over-eagerness to get a little clean air in here…"

"We'll not stay to be insulted" said Rabastan. "You'll make a mistake one day and fall from favour; and I just hope I'm around to see it."

Krait smiled.

"I don't like you either" she said. "I have the death sentence in twelve systems…"

Naturally neither the Lestranges nor Lucius understood that comment; and Draco, initiated into the world of Star Wars stuffed his hands into his mouth so as not to laugh out loud.

-/-

The rest of the holidays were uneventful; and Krait went in Lucius' flying carriage to meet the Hogwarts Express with Draco, who was a little quiet; a departure Krait intended to get to the bottom of as soon as she might.

_Star Wars references are obligatory._


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22 Malfoy Angst**

The first person Draco and Krait met at the station was their cousin Abrax; and with the expected Kinat and Ellie now was Erskine. He met Krait's eyes a little defiantly.

"Meet my brother" said Abrax. "We ran into him in the hols, and his parents had dumped him on a scatty old uncle when he was just a babe, so my parents have adopted him. We're the Malfoy twins!"

The boys had both, this term, made an effort to school their hair to resemble Draco's; and Krait laughed.

"Well, there's a superficial resemblance…he probably has Malfoy blood somewhere, most wizards of old family lines do; and when he's blooded in you can concentrate on miniature permanent transfigurations to look more like each other if you so wish."

"Wicked!" said Abrax. His grey eyes shone; and Hawke's black ones reflected relief.

-/-

They blooded Hawke right after tea; and he told the group, belligerently at first but relaxing as they did not laugh, that he had grown up on a rough muggle estate and that Abrax and co had met them there; and far from laughing at him or taunting him had joined in the local kids' games.

"And then we went to a car boot sale…and found a wicked box of stuff!" said Abrax. "An invisibility cloak…some magic books and STUFF!" he waved his hands. "And we found out the guy was clearing a house he inherited in hopes of shifting it if it weren't so cluttered, so we got dad to make an offer for it, and we're going to live in a wizard's house!" his eyes gleamed. "It's in a really posh part of London too, in Bayswater!"

Krait whistled.

"That is posh…I didn't know there was so much loot in New Age stuff."

"There is if you know your market…Mum sells a lot of stuff on the internet too, so we'll have to be careful to keep magic free zones. And she's thinking of getting a shop in Diagon Alley…there's a lot in virgin telesma and things."

"Yes, the purity of supplies is paramount" said Krait. " Severus, you'll want to talk to her. and I thought I'd had an exciting holiday!"

"Oh, there's more…we met a muggle actress who's really nice because we didn't save her from bad men, it was all part of filming" Abrax explained incoherently "And David came to stay for a couple of days and he met a squib who's done well in the muggle world, he's a colonel and David got some pointers off him."

"All in all a busy time had by all!" grinned Krait.

She recounted her own doings when asked.

"She's insane of course" Draco reiterated.

"Divide – and conquer" said Krait.

"There's so much more going on than I ever realised" Hawke Erskine – or Hawke Malfoy – said.

-/-

It was going to take Hawke a little time to settle in to being Abrax's brother. Finding out just how deeply his brother was involved in very real, very dangerous plans against Voldemort had to be assimilated; and it would take him a while to think of Wendy and Casimir as 'mum' and 'dad' rather than 'your mum' and 'your dad'. They had been so kind to him it almost made him want to cry….Hawke had been used to being hardened against the world for so long that when people reached under his skin but didn't try to hurt him he hardly knew what to do. He loved Wendy fiercely – though he would have died rather than admit it – for her simple statement that he was coming to live with them, now, in such a tone that not only brooked no argument but said quite clearly that there was no other possible thing to do! As for Casimir, the man was quiet, but not soft; he had accepted a new son into his world not because his wife insisted but because he too felt it right! Hawke had felt it only fair to point out to Wendy, when she told him they had always wanted more children, that she should visit St Mungo's as she was entitled to do; and had been overcome by her delight – and her automatic acceptance that he was her son, whether she had any more babies or not!

-/-

Krait spent an amusing time in careers advice telling her House Master gravely exactly what her plans for the future were and exactly how they involved him….then she grinned.

"I might just go for being an auror, you know…" she said. "I can get the grades…"

"I'd stick to training other would-be aurors if I were you" said Severus pithily. "Other than when they fire cauldrons at you it's less dangerous."

Krait grinned.

"If all else fails I can get a job improving the stonework at the Ministry with a few extra statues….nobody would miss creeps like Percy Weasley for example."

"Tempting" said Severus.

Both Harry and Draco had decided to try for the grades to be aurors; and grinned at each other when the class was comparing ambitions.

"And what does Miss Malfoy intend to do?" asked Pansy Parkinson spitefully. "Run a home for foundlings?"

Krait looked much struck.

"I hadn't thought of that….it's not a half bad idea at that, thanks, Parkinson! I was thinking about teaching but it's all of a piece in some respects."

When a carefully rounded insult is taken as a good idea the insulter comes off worst.

-/-

Draco had been a little moody, something most people put down to pre-exam nerves; but he took his thoughts to the Blood Group.

"Look" he said "I'm a bit confused with my feelings….the last day of the hols I told my dad that I hoped he would approve the goblins in Hogwarts when he visited, because we needed goblins on our side, and that I'd got quite friendly with them, as far as a prefect can with little brats….and he was really approving and told me he had always known I was clever. It – it's the first time he's ever praised me that I can remember….I lost my temper a bit and told him so, and he seemed surprised….said he'd always been proud of me….and….and" he looked to Krait for support.

"And you don't quite know how you feel about him and you feel a heel betraying him?" asked Krait.

Draco nodded miserably.

"I – I guess I do love him." A tear trickled down the side of his nose. "I'd gladly see the rest of them in Azkaban, or dead….but thinking about killing my dad….it HURT!" he sniffed loudly. Krait put an arm around him.

"Then we'll just have to turn him instead" she said.

Sirius groaned.

"Krait, he's one of the cruellest men alive!"

"Is there a reason for that? Harry, can you get Dobby to talk to you? If he's belonged to the family all his life, see if he can tell you what Lucius was like as a child."

"I can do that better" squeaked Sirri. "House elf talk is freer than to masters – to humans."

"Sure you don't mind?" Krait didn't want her tiny friend to suffer embarrassment. Sirri shrugged.

"Dobby is happy enough to be friends; he just doesn't want encumbrances" she said philosophically. Her gravid state was extremely apparent by now; and there were several looks of enlightenment.

-/-

Sirri reported back within a couple of days.

"Lucius was always arrogant and a bit spoilt, yes, Dobby says, but not like after he had been away to Hogwarts a couple of years….that's why Dobby found it hard to be properly submissive, he says, servile, he means, 'cos he grew up with Master Lucius and they got into scrapes together when they was young…then one holidays when Dobby says a 'do you remember' Lucius scolds him for presumption and cheek and tells him to punish himself…and he was always bad tempered and stucked upperer since then." She told them.

Krait sat forward.

"I wonder….would it have been in the third year? When people get to visit Hogsmeade? Was our favourite Fishfaced creep, having been denied a place on the staff, waiting to sucker in his victims?"

"I met him first in the Hog's Head" said Severus. "I went in there because it was insalubrious; to brood on my wrongs…."

"O God" said Sirius, much struck "After we jinxed your broom that much it threw you in the lake and you were up in the hospital wing for weeks…."

Severus shrugged.

"I played the hypochondriac a bit" he confessed. "It's old news….but he could well have got hold of that generation then…..Lucius would be ripe for plucking, being the arrogant type, the Malfoys have always considered themselves above the usual distinctions of law and taking care over Dark Artefacts and Arthur at twelve or thirteen may have been a bit self righteous and pompous….Percy must have got it from somewhere and it surely wasn't Molly; and Arthur CAN lecture…."

"So can my mum" said Ron, with feeling. "She'd not be backward about coming forward to give Lucius a piece of her mind if she felt like it…"

"He'd resent that, feeling his position; but finding he got no preferential treatment" said Draco. "It's confusing and a little frightening when you've been treated like a little prince to find school discipline…I know this."

"The whispers of the natural order of things…the suggestion that he should exert his authority where he was able….oh yes, I can hear my father whispering" said Krait. "It's a start. We can work on that and undermine it both at the same time….if we can split him away from Fishface worship we can see if there's anything decent underneath….or if he's only proud of you like a possession."

"He was shocked when I said he never loved me or approved of anything I did" said Draco quietly.

"Come, now, that's good….if he loves you he's not devoid of strength to break away" said Krait "Nor is he empty."

"I – I want to talk to him" said Draco "But if something's going to happen that's supposed to sucker Harry and we send Aurors instead – I presume that's what we were going to do?" he asked. Krait nodded and he went on, "Well, they'll arrest dad too if the Death Eaters are involved…. But I won't see him again until the Summer Holidays, and then it'll be too late…."

"Brother mine, use the loo network" said Krait. "Take yourself home; and have a long chat to your dad. If he loves you, blood should count more than loyalty to someone who abuses him….tell him you suspect he may have compulsions in him, I bet he won't like that….We all trust you to use your judgement about how much to tell him, don't we?"

"'Course we do" said Harry "Though I've got a lot of reservations. I loathe Lucius Malfoy, for what he did to Dobby, for what he's tried to do to Hagrid, and Dumbledore…I think he's a Death Eater's Death Eater. But I guess if Draco hadn't had the opportunity to break the mould he'd be as bad at Lucius' age…"

"Worse" said Krait. "Draco's naturally a gentle lad…when such are forced against nature they can become real monsters because he would die inside….talk to him Draco, even if you can only get him to see that Fishface is a contumelious little creep who's not too tightly wrapped…"

"I will" said Draco thankfully. "I – I won't let the team down."

_All right, I confess it, I find Lucius too vivid a character to want to kill out of hand…._


	23. Chapter 23

_**This is a long one but it almost has to be.**_

**Chapter 23 Stealing Lucius**

Draco chose a time when he knew his father would be alone in the treasure room, enjoying the various antiques the family had amassed. He did not want to see his father in the study because of the communications globe; there was no certainty it could be used to scry, but Draco felt that taking a chance on that was unwarrantable. He slipped quietly into the room.

"Father? A word?" he said.

Lucius started.

"Draco! What are you doing here? You should be at school! How did you get here?" he demanded.

"I can't concentrate on schoolwork when there are more important things to talk about….I've not had a moment to see you alone, father."

"What can be more important to you than your OWLs right now?"

"Family, father. Blood. You, me and the future." He was white. "You said you were proud of me. I need to know if you love me, father…I've never known."

Lucius stared.

"Of course I love you Draco. Why should you think otherwise?"

"How about because you never said so? Never gave me cause to think it? I told you that all I remember from you ever is criticism…but I need to know if you love me more than you desire to grovel and fawn upon Tom Riddle's robe hem."

"Be careful how you speak of the dark lord!" Lucius admonished.

"Why? He's a lying little freak….encourages blood snobbery when all the time his mother was pure blood but insane and his father was a stuck up, rather stupid muggle."

Lucius paled.

"Whatever makes you think so?"

"Krait knows her bloodline…Dumbledore told her something of the Gaunts, and the existence, marriage and murder of Tom Riddle senior, muggle, are a matter of muggle public record…Tom Marvolo Riddle, anagrammed as 'I Am Lord Voldemort' was raised in a muggle orphanage after his muggle father abandoned his mother…she gave up and died from the birth which she need not have done had she gone to St Mungo's."

Lucius looked serious.

"She told you this then…obviously you believe her."

"I do….he's been fooling the lot of you for years. Krait wondered that a proud man like you would grovel on the floor to kiss the hem of his robe. She said it sickened her. It sickens me." said Draco. "He makes his servants less than human…how can you stand that?"

"He is so powerful….none dare do any other…he knows our very minds and would punish…when he has prevailed we shall be set up above all others…"

Draco snorted.

"You do what a big bully tells you because you are afraid not to in effect; you will rule as his lieutenants by his will and for so long – only – as it is his whim."

Lucius flushed.

"You call me a coward?"

"If the hat fits, father….you are all skulking around him, when all that needs be done to defeat him is not give him credence. If all had refused to acknowledge his return…"

"Not one of us dared…there would always be those who ran to his bidding…why Krait herself ran to help Severus restore him."

"She had her reasons…he has some secret of immortality, that his spirit endures even if his body is killed. Is it that which makes you so fearful?"

"It is certainly a part of it, son. He is fearsome….none dare oppose him."

"Harry Potter dares" said Draco quietly.

"Harry Potter! That interfering little creep! Almost cost me my governorship and did cost me my most valuable house elf!" Lucius was angry.

"Be fair, father, you were trying to get him killed at the time with Tom Riddle's diary…and little Ginny Weasley too…"

"Merlin's beard, you're not sweet on the Weasley girl are you?" Lucius was horrified.

"She is pure blood of course…" Draco grinned impishly, unable to resist. "No, I'm not….and she's too gone on Harry anyway…as to Dobby, you wasted your own resource there by ill treatment…you could have made him do as you wanted by making sure he adored you for your kindness, but I suppose Riddle had already planted the compulsion in you that turned you against possible allies….after all, can't have his Death Eaters liking other people they might ally against him…"

"Compulsion? What do you mean?" Lucius asked sharply.

"He tried to put one in Krait…she found one in Severus…it was a command word that made unthinking obedience however abhorrent or suicidal the command….and tied up negative feelings too."

Lucius was beside himself with fury.

"You think I – I have such a compulsion?" he demanded.

Draco shrugged.

"I don't know….I have it from an eye witness that your personality underwent a change in your third year at Hogwarts…."

"That was when I first met Tom Riddle….he set up a club to come to, to learn more about the Dark Arts…it was fun…"

"yeah" said Draco flatly. "even more fun for him to impose a habit of slavery on his chosen suckers"

Lucius' jaw tightened.

"I have told you…"

"Not to talk like that? Do you think it pleases me that the father I love has been taken for a sucker? Or that he has been imbued with a coldness that keeps this family from having everything – except a close loving relationship? You and mother are civil to each other; you and I don't talk. Wow, what a wonderful gift from the dark lord! I should feel so much loyalty to him for it!"

Lucius changed colour several times.

"What exactly are you driving at Draco? Is Krait considering deposing her father and setting herself to rule us instead? And calling for family support?"

"If she were I'd prefer it to the way things are…if anyone should rule as dictator, Malfoys have more claim than most….Dad, I know now that you love me but I need to know if you love me and trust me enough to consider breaking from the Death Eaters."

"Draco! What you ask…it is impossible! Every one who has done so has been hunted down and killed…I myself helped to kill Karkaroff…"

"Would you consider turning your coat secretly? Pretending loyalty until we are ready?"

"If there is a compulsion in me I want it out….and I will not feel any degree of loyalty to the dark lord at all….who is we? Krait and you? Is Severus involved?"

"Forgive me Dad…there are things I must know to see how much I can trust you…._Legilimens!"_

Draco pointed his wand and used the lessons he had been learning from Severus.

Lucius was shocked.

"I – I didn't know you were a legilimens."

"I've been taking lessons…I'm not as good as Severus or Dumbledore, but I'm doing well….your feelings for me do transcend your loyalties to HIM, that I can see…and I see your anger at his lies and controls."

"I want any control out…is Severus to be trusted? Can he do it?"

"Krait can do it….to keep it in the family….she's waiting to see if you wanted it done, I can go and get her fairly easily…I'd rather not say any more until it's out."

"Get her then." Said Lucius in a low furious voice. "NOBODY uses a Malfoy!"

-/-

Krait's light step heralded her arrival in the treasures room. Lucius was sitting sullenly in an easy chair; Draco had told him to sit comfortably and relax, clearing his mind as much as possible. He had not done a very good job.

Krait sighed.

"Lucius, if you're brooding on your wrongs and chewing the old vomit of your resentment it's going to make it harder for me" she said, placing a cool little hand on his forehead and looking into his eyes. "Think about something nice…lazing in your grounds on a fine day with clear eggshell blue skies and nothing to do for several hours….listening to birdsong and enjoying the guilty knowledge that there are a hundred and one boring mundane tasks to do that you're shirking."

"I can't recall the last time I did that…it's rather a prosaic thing…"

"Sure….and the prosaic pleasures are often the best. Imagine it then."

"I'll do my best…I'd never have considered it as a way to spend the time… but it could be pleasant.."

"That's better….Lucius, I'm going to see random memories, I'll try not to pry on personal ones….are, here we are, your first meeting with Tom Marvolo Riddle…"

Krait dissected every memory of those early days, turning them inside out, showing Lucius how clever use of words had led him to think in such a way as to make subtle mind control easy for her father.

"Ah, here we are" she said. "I didn't try this on Severus…is it the voice as well, or is it the Parseltongue words?" she looked at Lucius. _**ssss**__Listen to me…obey me __**ssss**_ she said.

Lucius stiffened and looked at her, waiting in perfect obedience.

Krait put her hands to each side of his head and dived back into his subconscious. She unravelled that compulsion and sank back to sit on her heels, exhausted.

"You could have made me do anything" said Lucius, curiously, fully cognizant of what had occurred. "Why did you not?"

Krait snorted.

"Why would I? I'm no inadequate to have to push around people just because I can…." She said. Lucius had a slightly ugly look on his face at being called an inadequate.

"I don't like your tone."

"So sue me….search inside yourself and see who started your need to feel big by using cruelty…being a Malfoy should have been more than enough, but Fishface is an inadequate and he had – and has – a need to drag everyone down to his level."

"You never said who said my personality had changed."

"It was Dobby."

"That ungrateful….! Surely you are not so foolish as to take the word of an elf?"

Krait's eyes blazed and she drew on her bloodkin for the strength to bring her to her feet in one fluid and panther like movement.

"Ungrateful? I think not! You are the ungrateful one, and the fool, to rely on magical compulsion to maintain loyalty! Whatever happened to noblesse oblige? You've been acting like a mountebank, Lucius, and deep down you know it! I suppose you'd even say that might makes right!"

"It does" he said sulkily. "I'm grateful for your help niece, but it doesn't give you any right to…."

"But might does – in your book!" Krait's face was white and her eyes were brilliant. "Draco, stay out of this, it's for his own good…." Negligently she flipped a hand and Lucius Malfoy flew across the room to land in a crumpled heap. There, before he could get his wand out he cycled through a succession of animals as bizarre as Krait could manage, from aardvark to tapir, to parrot, to sloth, to donkey and finally back to his own form.

"Might makes right? _Crucio!"_ said Krait, pointing at him. She did not even bother with her wand. Lucius screamed and writhed.

Draco cried out

"Krait! No! please….he's not strong like we are….let him go…"

Lucius' agony stopped abruptly.

"You are right, Draco, I apologise" Krait reached out a hand to touch her cousin's arm.

Lucius struggled to his knees. Draco looked unhappy, that tight, white faced look he wore when he was fighting tears.

"Did I hear that right?" he demanded of his son "I'm not strong like you are?"

Draco shrugged.

"We practise taking the cruciatus curse….so we can react even under it. For when we fight and destroy Fishface – Voldemort to you."

"You are free with his name." Lucius got to his feet. It was an effort; and Draco went to him to lend his arm.

"Can be now" said Krait cheerily "The wheels of loads of muggle trains say it all the time…if he listens he won't half have a headache. I'm sorry Lucius….I went too far in demonstrating the lesson…will you forgive that?"

Lucius stared.

"The dark lord would never ask forgiveness."

" I was wrong to go so far as Draco pointed out. I wanted you to feel as Dobby felt….helpless, unable to escape….to show you what it was like."

"The demonstration was graphic" said Lucius. "You are a great witch, Krait….greater than your father I think, at least potentially – but he has a means of immortality that makes destroying him as you suggest impossible."

"Not when I've found his secret" said Krait. "Why do you think we wait? When I have it, then we can act….but not before. Are you with us against him?"

"Oh yes…." Said Lucius softly. "Anyone who feels the need to change my own thoughts to get my support has lost it straightway….what do you want to be called – My Lady?"

Krait snorted.

"You are still missing the fraggin' point!" she shouted at him. "The point is, I COULD hurt you….but because I am strong it is WRONG to hurt you! Let me tell you a muggle joke, it might illustrate it better….the head, the stomach and the legs of a man were arguing over who should be the boss. The head suggested its ability to think was paramount; the legs thought their ability to carry him counted for more and the stomach declared grandly that it took care of seeing him well fuelled. Then the anus spoke up and declared that it should be in charge; and everything else laughed. So the anus closed down. The stomach felt queasy; the legs wobbly and the head swam and felt dizzy. The usual punchline is that you don't need to be a brain to get ahead, only an arsehole; but if you look at it another way, it means that all parts are useful even the humble ones….everyone has their part to play. St Paul waxed lyrical on a similar theme but I guess you never got given any Bible study….you gotta have respect for everyone."

"Hermione Granger is a mudblood but she's the cleverest witch of her age, and she's very good" said Draco.

"Surely not cleverer than Krait!" demurred Lucius.

"She's cleverer than me….I'm more instinctive" said Krait. "I can't touch her for pure academia, except in Arithmancy and Potions; she's too academic to hit her full potential because she believes what is written and so believes in her limitations. I don't believe in having limitations so I exceed what is supposed to be possible. The point is, she's muggleborn and better than many purebloods….especially if they've got rather inbred. The Gaunts did, you know. It's why they were not too tightly wrapped….my father illustrates that point, he has several erumpants loose in his top paddock."

"Who would you set up in his place?"

"Can you believe I'd actually like to see the rule of law? Not the tyrannical way the Ministry is trying to save its own skin….democracy would be nice, where each area of Britain were represented by a lesser minister from whom a Prime Minister was chosen, say….you could always stand, you know….a lot of people would feel you a suitable person. I'm not so sure, myself."

"But…I can't envisage such a thing….everything I've always worked towards…"

"Is a lie, as well you know if you look at what I've unravelled. Lucius, the time is to choose….to stay a Death Eater and worship my grotty parent because it's the easiest course; in which case the memories of this conversation MUST be removed….to do nothing, sit on the fence and hope not to get the concomitant splinters up your rear; or join us, support Harry and use your influence after we've won to reform the Ministry and the arbitrary government we find ourselves with right now."

"I loathe Potter"

"Only because he opposes what you had been standing for….he would not, I am sure, see anything wrong in an aristocracy providing that aristocracy had the usual duties of such a position as well as exercising its rights…..we English are used to a class system, we expect our leaders to know what they are doing and do it with courage; neither you nor Fudge are much more use to society as you are than chocolate cauldrons, but at least of the two you have brains….and drive. I have shown you the source of the weakness that has made you want to engage in mugglebaiting and the like; and frankly of the two, I'd rather see you in power than Fudge. I don't have to like you; but I do respect your ability to get things done."

"Lukewarm praise" said Lucius dryly.

"Perhaps; but if one is to have a dictator at least an efficient dictator is preferable to a woolly headed old fool who perpetrates injustice and iniquities purely to cover his own inadequacies whilst lying about how everything's all right. Show me I can respect you more fully then" said Krait. "Be one of us….we can tell Dumbledore that you've changed sides so you will be protected when we bring Fishface down…"

"Work WITH Dumbledore? That's as unlikely as working with Harry Potter" Lucius sneered.

Krait shrugged.

"Then I'd better modify your memories now."

"Wait…." Lucius held up a hand. Krait watched him narrowly, Draco anxiously. "Draco, is this what you believe in? I want to know why you have chosen this course."

"At first, dad, it was because Krait explained to me about the profound slavery Death Eaters enter into….I didn't want to be a slave. I thought Harry might be the lesser of two evils as the prophesy says it's one or the other….though I hadn't heard all the prophecy then, but the implications were clear enough….now? I like and respect Harry, he's probably my closest friend. We're going to do auror training together if we survive…..he's got common sense and a few good ideas about reforming the way our world works. I'll follow Harry to the edge of the world and step off for him if he asks it because I love him….not because I fear him or because of any damned compulsion!" Draco was shaking.

Lucius stared at him.

"That is power indeed to command such loyalty….I certainly do not want to follow the, er, Fishface any more….the idea of choosing a path of no decision must be abhorrent to anyone with any self respect…. I have little choice. I will come and talk to Dumbledore….will that please you, my son?"

Draco nodded vehemently, tears coursing down his face. He embraced his father roughly.

"Backslide and I'll kill you" said Krait.

Lucius looked at her with a faint smile on his face.

"From Potter that would be a cliché" he said. "I rather think I might believe you."

"I would" said Krait, coolly. "I have already killed our cousin Jonathon for what he did to his daughters." She told Lucius about Jade and Lydia; How first she knew them, then how she and Severus had discovered them to be Malfoys – she left Arthur's name prudently out of it - and she spared him nothing in the telling of their background.

"You see? Muggles are disgusting" he said.

"Some muggles are disgusting….it's not confined to muggles I'll bet" said Krait "Not if there is the capacity in the wizarding mind to enjoy torture….like Bellatrix Black…..and it is my belief that Jonathon was performing rudimentary magic, mental compulsions and the like. There are echoes in the minds of my little girls reinforcing the obedience to a parent's commands not to talk…. And we have other relatives, Lucius, I have made contact with some; as an act of good faith why don't you run down the others and take them under your protection? Before he died I saw other children in Jonathon Malfoy's mind….they are vulnerable. Don't bother with your youngest sister….she is happy enough and has as much interest in the wizarding world as you have in nuclear physics…with as much ignorant bliss as to the implications."

"That sounds like a veiled insult….what is this nuclear physics that my ignorance of it should be blissful?"

Krait grinned. It was not a pleasant grin.

"What happens if you put a firework in an enclosed space?"

"That's very dangerous!"

"Yeah….muggles are real good with explosives. They can't make such pretty fireworks as wizards, but they can make them real destructive….a firework with all the danger of being enclosed is at most a few ounces of explosive, right?"

"Yes" said Lucius.

"Using nuclear physics a destructive force measured in millions of tons of explosive can be made" said Krait implacably. "The London – what, that pile of dust there? – type of destruction. While you and Fishface were playing games back in the seventies there was for a brief time the very real risk that you'd have no England left to play in."

"They're insane! Should be locked up in zoos!" gasped Lucius.

"The acronym for what kept us safe – ie, the fear of Mutually Assured Destruction - is MAD" she said. "Chosen with rather black humour. Don't underestimate Muggles. They don't merely, as our OWL questions suggest, mimic magic with machines. They see a problem – and build a machine to overcome it. They don't mimic magic because they don't believe in it. They branch out on their own. We HAVE to be aware of this. Hell, Lucius, you have shares in Muggle companies – you probably have interests in explosives because they're profitable. Maybe you should take more interest in where your money is invested."

"Maybe I should" said Lucius carefully. "Maybe I should. I will do as you suggest about our family….you found out about my father's untimely death when you were poking around in my head, of course."

"That the code word had already been used to activate you to kill him….that you had orders too to forget it in case anyone with legilimency asked you….."

"That I cannot forgive at all…the using of me to kill my own father without my knowledge" said Lucius. "My father and I quarrelled….I might even have been ready to kill him for what I thought were my ideals. But to act as an automaton….."

"He thought your family pride might stop at such an order….Draco, acknowledging you dangerous, and fearing that you hated him or despised him was never happy to see you go down with the others" said Krait. "I was going to kill you so he did not have to be part of it…."

Lucius swallowed.

"I have a good son….I love him" he said shakily.

"Love is the oldest magic….it has given you the power to break loose" said Krait. "For one who has never had family until recently I am overwhelmed to have kindred….that you are rich doesn't matter…I have family and who they are isn't important."

"And I can see you mean that….you're an extraordinary sort of girl, Krait…you could demand anything from me."

" I rather thought I was…..demanding that you eschew your beliefs for the love of your son is big, I acknowledge that."

"You could demand worship….queenship over the wizarding world…."

"Meh!" said Krait. "I would want such worthless baubles why?"

_It always puzzled me why a proud man like Lucius should be willing to kiss the robe of any man; he's wily enough to sound out others to combine and overthrow their dark master. I should think if anyone knows anything about horcruces – or has a library in which to find out about them – it's Lucius. And Voldemort IS a control freak; so it struck me that he would not leave anything to chance. Lucius may be arrogant, a blood snob, ambitious and so on; but he's also very clever and very proud. And once betrayed he so is going to turn against a betrayer with all his soul. Even in canon he put family first. Notably he starts to be more family oriented once Voldemort takes his wand….a significant step since it is elm; and one cannot help but consider slippery elm and how slippery Lucius is….nobody has ever mentioned this in the lexicon so maybe I'm barking up the wrong elm tree. Here we have Lucius preparing to be slippery with a change of side….._


	24. Chapter 24

_**It's a bit short; sorry**_

**Chapter 24 More Malfoys**

Lucius Malfoy came to Hogwarts in his flying carriage and had a long talk with Professor Dumbledore. He also, on Draco's suggestion, had a long talk with David Fraser; and went away frightened to the core by muggle capabilities. David was shocked to be told by Lucius that the Minister was in intermittent communication with the muggle Prime Minister – during crises, such as during the time Voldemort had last been powerful – and muttered darkly that politicians were better kept in ignorance. Lucius formed the opinion that overt interference of a magical nature with muggles was a bad idea. The retaliation might be terrible. The concept of a small tactical nuke wiping out Hogwarts and killing his son without a chance of escape or counter scared him; though Fraser pointed out that any muggle minister who suggested such a thing would be likely to be locked in a padded room by his advisors! Lucius also remembered that as Hogwarts was unmappable it should be impossible to aim any missiles at it, and was dissuaded from thinking of any elaborate revenges against muggles to be enacted before the idea to obliterate the wizarding world's future occurred to them.

-/-

Draco was now able to concentrate on preparing for his OWLs; his peace of mind restored he enjoyed the mere mental stress of the revision. Some of the fifth were busy passing out or being taken to the hospital wing in tears, but the muggle studies hobbies group fifth formers devised themselves – by dint of Krait modifying Hermione's over stringent study plans – a strict regime that gave time for constructive relaxation. They tested each other but made games of it, not entirely to Hermione's approval; but she had to acknowledge that it seemed to work!

Lucius turned up a couple of weeks later.

"I have found the two children of Jonathon Malfoy – one is an orphan, the other has a mother in gaol who I need your abilities to help get out, Krait."

"What has she done?" Krait asked.

"She stole because she couldn't get a free operation to save her daughter's sight….not without waiting so long it would make the operation uncertain and risky" said Lucius indignantly. "She's an artist….her daughter had some skill. And they're ready to give the child the support due to a blind person, of course….they are insane."

"You talked to the mother?"

"Yes….it required very little forgery….she thought I was crazy until I showed her what I could do….but she says she can't just disappear, she suggested I use magic to make it seem she had committed suicide… she said her cell mate rides her, it would be plausible."

"A manikin" said Krait. "A simple transfiguration….with a few complex twists. Yes, I can do it, I'll need to make sure the signs of death are consistent with the story we want to unfold….I can" she gulped "Copy my memories of my friend Anna…." She rose. "I am at your disposal, Lucius."

-/-

The woman Charlotte was a pretty redhead, her looks spoiled somewhat by strain; and she looked trustingly at Lucius when he arrived with Krait and a manikin and her cell mate promptly sank down sighing deeply and fast asleep.

"Lucius says you are remarkably talented" Charlotte said with a rueful smile "Though from my point of view that covers everybody in your world."

"Meh…can't compare Andy Goldsworthy with Van Gogh or da Vinci" said Krait. "Different people, different approaches and specialities…and what some people produce out of their wands is a load of old Jackson Pollocks…."

Charlotte chuckled.

"What makes me think you're no great fan…"

"Can't think….okay, let me get this show on the road….."

Krait went to work with her wand; She took a sample of Charlotte's skin with her silver knife.

"What?" asked Lucius.

"DNA" said Krait, shortly. "Can't just look like her, has to kind of be her….that and polyjuice potion will do the trick."

She waved him away; and Lucius took Charlotte by the hand.

"I'll be back for you, Krait" he said."

She shrugged.

"No need….I have my apparating licence. Take that poor girl to her daughter and get the child's eyes sorted….I'll see you sometime when I get to meet my new cousins."

Lucius apparated out with Charlotte.

It was such a relief not to be bound by the ban on underage magic. Using a wand made life much easier! Being older than her fellows had some advantages.

It was challenging to make the manikin human; but not alive; to make sure all the internal organs were in place and not functioning. Placing the marks of ligature strangling by hanging was the hardest of all; not merely in the complexity but in the memories it brought back. Krait finished with an effort of self discipline and hung her effort carefully from the prison bars with strips of blanket.

The cell mate would have a nasty shock when her magically induced sleep wore off; that was unfortunate, but Lucius' comments suggested she had not been very nice to Charlotte. It would not be a high profile death; Charlotte had, apparently worked for Jonathon Malfoy, fascinated by him, probably under an instinctive form of magical compulsion, working as a whore while she was at college; and lost her place when she had a baby. She had subsisted as a street artist when Jonathon abandoned her, taking such jobs as she could to supplement her income, for her own family had disowned her. Lucius had described her as 'plucky' and Krait wondered secretly if there might be an attraction there…he and Narcissa were not after all exactly close. Another byproduct of Riddle's paranoia, to come between any who might combine and be a threat to him. However, that was for them to sort out; Krait just hoped that as the death would not be high profile, the home office would not demand too much complexity in the post mortem! She had some nodding acquaintance with police procedure and forensics – there had been a long shelf of whodunits in the library – but could not claim expert knowledge. She finished her enchantment with a revulsion charm of considerable subtlety that should prevent anyone from wanting to look too closely; and hoped it would be enough.

-/-

When the job was done, Krait apparated back to Hogsmeade and strolled back to school with much on her mind. If Lucius had become fiercely partisan towards the muggle woman who had mothered his great niece there were hopes for him yet; but she fully intended keeping a close eye on her slippery uncle. Shocks he had received, and such could turn him around; but there were many years of habit that Krait felt needed careful and regular breaking!

-/-

Harry was getting clearer and clearer dreams of the Department of mysteries, and learning more and more about how to not only stand aside from them but to look for clues that Voldemort was unaware of letting slip. He caught the sense that the time to put on the most pressure was when he was already pressured in the midst of exams; and told the rest.

"That gives us a time, then" said Krait. "Remember it is all false, do not let him spoil your OWLs for you."

Harry nodded.

"I'm a little concerned who he's going to threaten though, and how" he said.

Ginny looked up.

"It's me" she said. "I got a package this morning with an ornate mirror in it and a letter from Mr Malfoy telling me he had been ordered to send it to me anonymously….he said it was a communicating mirror and that I could be controlled through it."

"He's fulfilling his word then" said Draco, pleased.

"He shouldn't have sent it at all!" said Harry furiously.

"I disagree" said Krait. "If he had not, when Fishface checked he could not sustain the lie….he's not so highly trained as we are. Better to be able to say 'of course' when asked if he had sent it, else my father might press him further….he has sent warning with it, that's a good sign."

"Well…." Harry said "I suppose."

"Forewarned is forearmed I guess" said Ginny. "You'll all back me to fight back when…when he tries to…."

"Of course" said Krait. "And if you can defy him, tell him you have a piece of him too or something, it will buy time to get Dumbledore to corner the Death Eaters."

Ginny nodded, pleased to be able to help.

"Look here, she's just a kid!" exploded Ron. "You can't ask her to risk herself like that…"

"Excuse me, I'm older than you were when you started getting involved in scrapes with Harry!" said Ginny "The same age as Harry was when he was in the Triwizard competition…and I'm not being asked, I'm volunteering, so there!" she tossed her effulgent mane.

"Mum'd kill me if I let anything happen to you!" said Ron "And – and…"

"There's no harm in admitting you love your little sister, you know" said Krait calmly. "We all love Ginny. None of us will let any harm come to her. She'd be more at risk if she weren't blooded to us, because she'd not have the resources to draw on….you can back her Ron, as we all will."

Ron's fears were not substantially ameliorated, but he was somewhat pacified at the thought of everybody helping Ginny to resist.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25 Of sundry people large and small**

Krait subsequently made an unexpected ally.

She had been carrying a message from Severus to Argus Filch, and noticed him quickly hiding what looked something like a wand as she came in. She stooped to tickle Mrs Norris' ears as she passed over the message, and cleared her throat as Filch read to the end of it.

"Excuse me Mr Filch" she said "I hate the thought of anybody trying to con one of our own, somebody from Hogwarts…"

"What are you on about girl?" Filch asked roughly.

Krait looked him in the eye.

"I get a tingle when I'm near something magical" she said. "I didn't feel it off your wand….I'm afraid somebody might be trying to con you with false promises and I'd like to see them stepped on, if so…."

Filch looked at her, searching for cheek. Krait looked faintly indignant and concerned but that was all. He got out the wand in question.

"Can you tell what it be like Miss Malfoy?" he asked.

Krait balanced the wand, shook it lightly.

"It's a stick" she said. "Dumbledore himself couldn't get a spell out of it….someone is taking advantage of your lack of knowledge, Mr Filch, and that makes me very angry….." her eyes narrowed.

"Why?" he asked

"Nobody touches our people with impunity…." Said Krait. "I don't think I believe in squibs, Mr Filch, and deep down nor do you, or you'd not be trying out a surreptitious wand….I'll get you a proper one, and see if I can't take you where those of less patience have failed….and if you let me know where this came from, I'll have them investigated."

Filch dragged out a sheaf of papers announcing themselves to be a magical correspondence course. Krait read through the first couple.

"Evil and cruel!" she said. "There is nothing in here can do you any good at all….wickedness beyond belief to raise hopes so cruelly and falsely!"

"Ar, bring back flogging, I say!" agreed Filch savagely.

"Ever been flogged, Mr Filch?" asked Krait.

"Can't say as I have."

"Then don't recommend it" she said. "Look" she showed him her back in a sudden angry movement. "I've been flogged since I can remember….all it did was make me determined to rebel. Others it turned into cowed vegetables. I can show you what it feels like…..I suggest, Mr Filch that you only want to flog young wizards to take out the anger of a life of being ill treated by wizards….yes, I see your pain, Mr Filch, I sympathise; but you're not doing yourself or the cause of squibs any favours by being contrary, you know. Now I'll get these to Professor Snape to look into this fraud and I'll see about a wand for you as will work….and we'll start work tomorrow night, shall we?"

Filch gaped. She had called him down most insolently; yet…..there was enough truth in her words to give him pause….and he was hungry to do magic…he did not think she was teasing him; and he had had no joy from the correspondence course.

-/-

Filch was a sullen pupil; but Krait was patient. Patiently she explained how to focus his mind and concentrate on what he wanted; and the first spark of light he had from his wand had her clapping her hands in delight.

"I said there's no such thing as a true squib!" she said. "Now you've proved that to yourself, we can work on simple spells that you'll find useful; and of course you'll be able to use the floo network!"

"Ar" said Argus Filch, much struck!

-/-

In time, and once Severus had uncovered that the so-called correspondence course was in fact run by a muggle who had been cashing in on the gullibility of other muggles who WANTED to believe – and Severus was busy running down each of his clients to check how much talent they might really have – Argus Filch opened up more to Krait and spoke about the miseries of growing up a squib; and listened too to her life story of the harshness of the orphanage. His joy at being able to do spells for the first time in his life led him to virtual worship of the tiny witch and Krait even caught him making pets of Jade and Lydia!

-/-

Harry and Ron and Hermione were shocked meantime to discover that Hagrid had been concealing his half brother Grawp in the Forbidden Forest; it did at least explain Hagrid's rather battered appearance. That the centaurs disapproved and said so forcefully was disturbing, as they told the Blood Group.

"Stuck up and snotty from what I understand" said Krait "Refused to be beings because they wanted to do their own thing…they just want to be the centaur of attention…."

"Krait, this is serious" said Hermione, glowering at those who sniggered at the terrible pun.

"Of course it is….look, give Hagrid credit for a brave experiment…if he can civilise his brother even a little it is evidence that Giants can be; and that means we have a chance of reaching agreements with them in the future. If not….as muggles spread yet more, they're going to die out if they can't be reasonable" said Krait. "What I meant was, centaurs are stuck up and conservative; they'd complain at the drop of a hat, and I think we need not refine too much upon their whinnies…er whinings."

"Do you think so? I – I don't think Hagrid told Professor Dumbledore…" said Hermione.

"That's not so good….if you three can persuade him to tell Dumbledore about Grawp it would be a lot better. It's too bad of Hagrid to put more stress on you three in your OWL year, but I guess he never thought of it like that….Hagrid does tend to act first and think a LONG way down the line" sighed Krait.

The three exchanged looks. They wanted to defend Hagrid, but Krait had spoken only too much truth – and it was not as though she spoke in dislike of Hagrid, for she liked him well enough!

"If he won't tell Dumbledore, we must" said Hermione firmly "For Hagrid's own protection. If the Ministry got to hear…."

"Dad has the ministry under control" said Draco suddenly. "He called on Fudge, who was trying to get together a resolution to appoint another High Inquisitor and told him not to make a fool of himself. Pointed out that escaping Death Eaters ought to concern the ministry more than the minor peccadilloes of a group of juveniles; and that Dumbledore was hardly likely to move into the ministry while he was baby sitting Harry Potter anyway. Fudge will do anything for dad, because he owes him."

"Nice move Lucius" said Krait. "Write and tell him so…it's too much to expect anyone to persuade the ministry to get their heads out from under stones, but at least keeping them off our backs is a start. When the Death Eaters get caught trying to get Harry to hand over the prophecy there's bound to be enough pride in some of them to sound off about the Dark Lord being back and sucks and that sort of thing….Fudge will have no choice but to accept THAT."

"Hasn't Umbridge tried to go to the ministry and lay information that the dementors were acting under someone else's orders?" asked David "As she was convicted of being a Death Eater?"

"She hadn't got as far as Azkaban" said Krait "They were still questioning her when the others were released….she's still one as far as anyone knows and I for one don't care."

"Nor I" said Harry with feeling, rubbing the back of his hand. "She could have scarred me for life I reckon, and anyone else that crossed her."

"We need to put all things aside for a week or two, though…" said Krait "Don't worry about Grawp, you couldn't stop him anyway, not non fatally, if he decided to be a nuisance….Dumbledore will sort it out."

-/-

The other thing that occupied the minds of several of the Blood Group was the Quiddich cup. Cho was playing for Ravenclaw; and Harry hoped he'd not feel distracted by that. He found himself telling Krait as much.

"You're not in love with Cho Chang at all, Harry Potter" Krait said, crisply. "You have fallen into the habit of mooning over her because you had a crush on her, and you keep hoping with Cedric left she might notice you."

Harry's mouth fell open.

"Krait, how can you know how I feel?" he asked, injured.

"My blood tells me you'd like to kiss her…..Harry if you loved her, loved her deeply, wouldn't you have moved heaven and earth to get her into the blood group? You've never even suggested it."

Harry stared.

"I – I suppose I'd not want her to take the risk…."

Krait snorted.

"And an auror is going to be happy with a wife who needs coddling and protecting and wrapping in cotton wool? Not I think that Cho does….she's not as adventurous as Hermione or Ginny of course, but she's only a Ravenclaw….Harry, you're a poor prune."

She left him gaping.

-/-

The match was quite exciting, Krait had to admit; Ravenclaw started off well, and Ron let in a few goals; but suddenly he seemed fired with resolve and played as he had never played before, blocking like a demon. When Harry grabbed the snitch from right under Cho's nose the Gryffindors went wild!

Cho cried tears of frustration and anger and Harry patted her on the arm.

"Hey, it's only a game" he said.

Cho flounced off; and Harry watched her go assessing his feelings.

He was interrupted by being hugged violently by Ginny Weasley.

"NICE one Harry!" she said. He grinned.

"Cho doesn't agree" he said.

"Oh, Cho…." Said Ginny dismissively. "Everyone knows Ravenclaws are so in love with themselves they can't bear anyone else to be better….she'll cry on the shoulder of her own reflection and feel better for the sympathy of a true admirer…."

Harry was shocked.

"I say, Ginny, that's a bit catty…."

"Yes, wasn't it?" said Ginny. "Wait, I feel a Snapism coming on…Miss Chang devotes the time she neglects from her studies to the promoting of her good appearance…how catty is that then?"

"Erm…" said Harry.

Krait drifted over.

"Nice catch" she said. "Ginny, you may win the battle that way but it puts you in a poor tactical position….generosity is a nicer trait."

Ginny grinned.

"Well you won, so I guess you know what you're talking about" she said.

"I haven't the least idea what you two are on about" Harry complained. They both looked at him.

"Probably just as well" said Krait.

-/-

Krait got back into school just as the pains of Sirri's onset of labour rippled strongly through the blood group; the little elf quickly blocked, but not before Krait at least realised what was wrong; and summoned Hermione and Ginny as helpers. Beloc she banished from the room where he was hovering; and asked Severus for potions to ease the pains. House elf heads were large in proportion to their bodies and she knew – only too well – that human women could die from childbed, let alone elves. Sirri's mother, Mimette, was in attendance of course; and slightly shocked that there should be humans there too.

"Sirri is a dear friend" said Krait firmly "What sort of friend – or even employer – would I be not to be with her and support her?"

Mimette made several flustered half sentences and gave in; as Sirri clung to Krait and Krait seemed not to mind….it was strange to be free, reflected Mimette but wonderful not to be in fear all the time, it was relatively easy to put up with the strangeness of the new master and mistress…and her daughter had needs to see to anyway.

Hermione was inclined to panic; and Krait said

"Buck up old thing…you're a dentist's daughter….how much more blood do you see with extractions?"

Hermione gulped and pointed out that she had never assisted; and Krait ignored her excuses.

Severus came with draughts to help relax Sirri; and held her hand while Krait got busy at the business end. Ginny held her other hand and Hermione thankfully boiled water for washing and passed cloths to Krait.

The baby was born with a hideously deformed head; which Sirri promptly started shaping as though it was what she expected; so Krait assumed it was normal enough. He was a little boy.

Sirri was crying and smiling both at once.

"He is born free!" she said. "But I'd better give him a name that will not seem strange in an elf, or maybe he'll get bullied…."

"Give him a name that could be so construed but could be a human style name too" suggested Krait.

"I – I was hoping to name him after the kindest man I know…" said Sirri anxiously.

"Why not?" said Krait. "What do you want to call him?"

"Sevvy…." Said Sirri.

Severus flushed.

"There are kinder…" he said.

"You has always been kind to us!" squeaked Sirri. "If – if you don't think it cheeky…"

"I'd be flattered" said Severus.

"I think it's lovely" said Krait. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Sevvy."

The rest of the blood group, when shown the tiny creature were duly full of congratulation; and intrigued by how small he was! The girls all wanted to hold him, of course, as they vied for cuddles with Lilith and Salazar!


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26 exams….and New Marauders**

Ernie MacMillan started showing the strain of the rapidly approaching OWLs by interrogating everyone on how many hours revision they were putting in a day, explaining proudly that he averaged eight hours.

Krait regarded him solemnly, shifted Lilith round on her hip, and took his temperature with a hand to the head.

"Without question" she said crisply "A case of staleness…you'll fail, MacMillan, from trying too hard….revision is like food – enough is as good as a feast, too much is worse than none at all. Take my advice and take more time off."

Ernie was somewhat miffed by this advice; but it made all those listening feel better!

Krait also aided and abetted Hermione in confiscating all the black market aids to concentration, mental agility and the like, especially Harold Dingle's alleged powdered dragon claw which Hermione found to be no more than powdered Doxy droppings

"And none of the rest any better" she said grimly.

"Quite" corroborated Krait. "When you bear in mind that most of the people selling stuff do NOT have an Outstanding OWL themselves in potions, how likely do you think it is that their supposed remedies can do any good, even if they weren't seriously against the rules, which they are?"

It was the revelation of the true nature of the powdered dragon claw which had more effect than any moral homilies however.

-/-

The first exam was theory of Charms on Monday morning. The Gryffindors studied assiduously all Sunday afternoon and Krait and Draco went for a long walk taking Lilith and Salazar to play with and charming inanimate objects absently as they went and defining what charm they had used.

Draco and Krait had the most enjoyable afternoon.

-/-

The examiners arrived at supper time. Krait recognised the tiny figure of Professor Marchbanks; the witch had examined her for her Transfigurations the year before and had complimented her on having wand work she had not seen since she had examined young Dumbledore in his OWLs. It was to be expected that some exam students might show signs of nerves; even hysteria; but that random pupils and one of the examiners should burst into tears was rather unprecedented.

Severus extracted a piece of leaf from his salad, looked at it with distaste and roared,

"Don't eat the salad!"

"Glumbumble juice for the sufferers, Severus?" said McGonagall calmly.

"Indeed…"

Soon all were calm again; and Dumbledore rose.

"Would those who spiced the salad with alihotsy care to explain their actions?"

Three red-faced Hufflepuff boys rose; one of them acted as spokesman.

"Sir, we wanted to do something to rival the New Marauders" he said. "It was jolly funny, too…"

"Indeed…I hope you enjoy as much writing me a detailed essay on all the effects of alihotsy, including its efficacious ones, and the antidote" said Dumbledore. "Who may I ask are the New Marauders?"

Abrax, Kinat, Romulus, Hawke and Bil got to their feet.

"Sir, it's us, and whilst there are loads of opportunities for mischief for visiting dignitaries, it would be the same as interfering with exam students themselves….and that would be unfair and dishonourable" said Abrax. "We act as you can see in a spirit of interhouse cooperation….am I digging myself a hole?"

"Somewhat" said Dumbledore. "On your honour, you've not been a part of anything like this?"

Abrax shook his head.

"No sir! But there'll be ample opportunities to use the ideas we had on Uncle Lucius and the other governors… they're a lot more creative than poisoning half the school indiscriminately."

Several examiners hid laughter; and Dumbledore tried to look stern.

"Mr Malfoy, I really do not want to hear about it" he said.

-/-

It was an uncomfortable evening with everyone concentrating on last minute revision; and Krait decided she was not going to be drawn into the last minute revision nor to go to bed early only to lie thinking about it. Last year she had had nothing to lose; this year was her actual OWL year and her last chance to do well. Accordingly she took herself down to Severus' room and slowly started undressing.

Krait had a relaxed and happy evening and slept well in the circle of her husband's arms. She got up breezily, saw to Lilith's and Salazar's needs and took herself to breakfast in a sunny mood.

Her mood probably did more to demoralise the majority of the Slytherin Fifth formers than anything else. Pansy Parkinson turned green and bolted to throw up; even Draco looked nervous and he knew he was well rehearsed. After breakfast the fifth and seventh formers milled around whilst the Great Hall was transformed from a dining area into an exam room, with dozens of single tables facing the staff end where Professor McGonagall faced the students. They seated themselves nervously; and when all were quiet McGonagall gave them leave to begin.

The first question was easy, about the incantation and wand movement of _wingardium leviosa_; later on were questions about cheering charms, concerning which Krait had had a long and interesting debate with Professor Flitwick in her first few weeks at Hogwarts while she was catching up. She wrote steadily and fluently, marvelling that everyone around her seemed to be working so feverishly and sighing frequently. It was all quite logical after all.

Hermione was holding forth about cheering charms when they came out….judging by what she said Krait wondered if she might not lose marks for irrelevance; the counter charm for hiccoughs was not, to Krait's mind, a valid cheering charm but more by nature a medical charm. She agreed with Ron who choked off Hermione's proposed lengthy post mortem. Krait grinned at Draco and asked him if he fancied a game of gobstones before lunch.

"Don't mind if I do" said Draco, trying not to let his voice shake.

"_Honestly!"_ said Hermione "Aren't you the least bit interested in comparing notes?"

"Nope!" said Krait. "What's done is done….what's the point in extra agony? I want to relax before the practical."

-/-

After lunch – for which the four tables had been restored – the candidates waited in an antechamber waiting to be called alphabetically for the practical. Krait had as soon retained the name Day for that, as being in quicker; but was philosophical. She taught Draco and Neville catscradle while others waiting muttered incantations to themselves. Hermione went first of their group with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle and Daphne Greengrass, a cousin of Abigail and Emmeline and no friend of Krait's. Students who had been were of course sent out another way.

Krait and Draco were in the same group of course, and were wished good luck by Professor Flitwick. The testing did not seem to take the same length of time for each student – or maybe some examiners were slower than others – and some of the L's were still there, including Neville. He was busy changing a rat orange with an aplomb he would never have had a year before and Krait hoped fervently that that was what was supposed to be happening to the rodent. She took her place with an elderly bald professor named as Professor Tofty; Draco had Professor Marchbanks who was free fractionally before, he being ahead of her alphabetically by initial. Krait smiled approval on Neville as he left and beamed at Professor Tofty.

"Excellent" he said in a quavery voice "No need for nerves young lady…I should like you to make this eggcup do cartwheels for me…"

Krait had practised hard at all kinds of locomotor charms since her initial embarrassment over the pineapple; and the eggcup cartwheeled with aplomb and panache, and Krait cut off suddenly the circus music she had absently introduced because it had seemed appropriate, blushing violently.

"No need to worry, my dear, most entertaining…." Tofty wheezed. "This wine glass needs levitating…"

With Harry's encouragement the Muggle Studies Hobby Group had practised the Levitation charm as an offensive charm, Harry having had experience of dropping a club on the head of a troll by the use of the charm. Krait had no trouble, and demonstrated too that she could tilt the glass to pour liquid from it if so required. Tofty seemed pleased and scribbled a note at her improvisation. She switched colour on a rat, changed the size of a dinner plate and successfully stilled dancing teacups. Then she was dismissed, and saw Harry waiting to take her place. She gave him a grin and a 'thumb's up' before walking out.

Neville was bubbling.

"I did it all….I did it well!" he said happily. "I'm sure I passed…I even got the teacups to lie down eventually. I did them one at a time…do you think I'll lose marks?"

Krait shook her head.

"I guess you might get extra for doing them all at once but you can't lose marks if you did what you were supposed to" she said, deciding it would only depress him if she mentioned that she had stacked hers neatly.

"Mine all stopped together" said Hermione smugly.

"But you're good at charms" said Neville. "I bet Krait stacked hers. She's got a fetish for tidiness"

Krait went pink and grinned.

"Blast, I never thought of that!" exclaimed Hermione in high Dudgeon and buried herself in a book on transfiguration. Neville looked at Krait and winked deliberately. She grinned back. Neville had come a long way to be able to tease Hermione like that!

Krait was free on Tuesday, having already passed her Transfiguration OWL with flying colours the year before. Professor Marchbanks had come to ask her how come she was splitting her OWLs; and Krait explained again how she had only started Hogwarts two years before.

"Why, my dear, your performance last year was outstanding indeed!" declared the small witch. "I recall you got E in Defence and in Arithmancy…there's nothing to stop you sitting the exams again and seeing if you could improve….I'll clear it with the board."

"What if I do worse because I give a NEWT level answer, which is what I'm studying?" asked Krait.

"Tush, dear, it's just building on what you know…you fell down in your theory of Dark Arts as I recall, had sketchy knowledge on a couple of subjects – and hardly surprising at that!"

Krait found herself agreeing!

-/-

Herbology was on Wednesday; Krait heard Harry suppress a yelp as his Fanged Geranium bit him. Krait glared at hers. The theory had been easy – especially as she had studied it with relation to potion making – and she had no real trouble with the practical. One of the theory questions had been in relation to the differences between Flitterbloom and Devils' Snare; and Krait did not think any of the Blood Group had any excuse for falling down on that one!

Once again Krait found herself being examined for Defence against the Dark Arts. She felt she was lucky in the questions; they covered subjects she knew well. As for the practical, Professor Tofty wheezed

"We have seen Miss Malfoy perform before….surely we don't need to take her time again?"

"I have improved, sir" said Krait.

"Improved beyond laughing dementors to death, hmm?"

Krait grinned.

"I'm smoother now, sir, and my Patronus is more certain."

"You can produce a Patronus? Corporeal?"

"Yes sir" said Krait surprised. "That's how it's supposed to be, isn't it? My cousin can too, and Potter, and Longbottom…"

"Call Mr Longbottom back" said Tofty to McGonagall. "Dear dear, how did you neglect to tell us this Sirius?"

Sirius shrugged.

"I didn't think the paper called for a Patronus" he said. "If I'd known it meant bonus marks, I'd have provided you with a list."

"Do so now, if you please!" quavered Tofty. "Miss Malfoy, your Counter jinxes and defensive spells please, first…"

Krait performed all that was asked of her with speed and efficiency; and had her boggart back in its cupboard before Sister Agatha had even begun to sneer, handspringing and showing off scarlet bloomers with 'I love Voldemort' embroidered on them, a touch Krait couldn't resist. Tofty looked quizzical but applauded her efforts.

Sirius handed Tofty a list; and Krait was asked to stand by the door where she was joined by Hermione and Neville and Cho and a few others.

Once the last examinee had gone through – it was Ron, as usual, muttering that if only his parents had taken his mother's maiden name life would have been easier – they were asked, one at a time, to produce a patronus.

Not all the muggle studies hobby group could produce a corporeal patronus; but all made a decent effort, and the silver stag Harry produced received spontaneous applause, as did Krait's King Richard.

"Excellent" said Sirius to them, following them out. "It never occurred to me that they were giving bonus points…I wonder if it was something to do with the Ministry having wanted you to learn theory only?"

Harry grinned.

"I guess we just did ourselves no harm with that…"

"I'm not going to complain that it will reflect well on me too if you get a crop of Outstandings…" Sirius said.

-/-

Hermione sat Ancient Runes on Friday; and was bad tempered over getting the translation of one muddled. Krait was glad to be in a different house; really Hermione could be so unrestful! She decided not to mention that she found it imcomprehensible that anyone should muddle Ehwaz and Eihwaz since the first looked like an M signifying two horses, that was parnership, mobility and strength and the second was a straight stick with a turn at each end signifying Yew with strength, dependability and protection, that had attracted Krait and pleased her that her father, whose wand was yew, had no idea how to use runes to improve his wandwork as any idiot ought to be able to pick up. Her father actually symbolised the Merkstave or negative aspect of the rune - destruction, dissatisfaction and weakness. Krait reflected that perhaps she should actually learn more about runes to see if there was anything in that to help with his defeat; as she knew, she reflected, almost nothing about runes.

Krait tended to forget how much extraneous knowledge she picked up reading Severus' learned magazines.

Krait took her day off to be with the little ones; the seventh years had Potions, so Severus was stalking around near the potions dungeon cursing gently. The fifth had their Potion exam on Monday, so Krait had another day off. She wished the others the best; and Severus fixed them with a steely eye and begged them not to let him down.

Hermione was still snappish and lashed out verbally at Parvati Patil when she said there were only four exams left, reminding the girl that she herself had Arithmancy, the hardest of all.

Krait laid a hand on Hermione's arm.

"If you didn't think you could do it, you shouldn't have elected it" she said quietly. "But you are. Now deep breaths, Hermione, you sound snappish and indeed Snape-ish in the extreme and of the old order."

Hermione opened her mouth to snap and shut it again. She rarely came out on top of a verbal skirmish with Krait.

"I must do well!" she wailed. "I'm the first witch in my family!"

"So your parents have nothing to compare you to" said Krait. "Do you feel you're carrying the honour of the muggleborn here?"

Hermione flushed and nodded.

Krait gave her a hug.

"There are other muggleborn; some good, some only adequate. Don't let showing up my father get in your way of having a life…be as good as you can be, but don't lose sleep or personality over exams. Especially as the NEWTs are what count for jobs anyway."

"The grades we get count for what NEWTS we can take" said Hermione sulkily.

"Yeah…but if you have an aberration in an exam, most of the staff are reasonable and prepared to negotiate." Krait pointed out. "Don't blow your results by worrying so much….you'll lose time and marks writing crap that's irrelevant just trying not to leave stuff out…."

"Do you think I did that in charms?"

"No idea….but your practical will have been outstanding, and that counts more than the written paper" said Krait soothingly and mendaciously. "Chill out, sister mine….I love you too well to let you get Peevish, it'll make you look like Umbridge."

Hermione stared at her in outrage then laughed. The laughter was a trifle hysterical; but it restored Hermione to a better humour.

-/-

The care of Magical Creatures exam was easy enough; the paper set was easy and the practical involved the sorting of Knarls from hedgehogs, the handling of Bowtruckles, cleaning a Fire Crab and demonstrating the knowledge of choosing the correct diet for a sick unicorn. Hagrid, watching anxiously from his hut, beamed as Krait performed all the tasks meticulously.

-/-

Krait did not study astronomy; she had decided from the outset that she could look up any information pertaining thereunto in an almanac if it became necessary and had elected to spend the time for those classes studying other subjects. She did however enter Divination because she thought it would be a laugh, and made up the most ludicrous rubbish for her written exam. The practical involved peering into a crystal ball; and Krait took a decision. She informed Madam Marchbanks that she saw a tall skeletal figure emerging from a cauldron with a snake issuing from its skull-like face.

Madam Marchbanks paled.

"Can – can you tell me any more?" she asked.

"He is death and he craves blood" said Krait softly. "they come to flock around him like carrion…to kiss his feet and worship in foul travesty of kingship…death comes in a green light."

Madam Marchbanks was much shaken.

"Perhaps we should try the tea leaves…."

Krait peered at the leaves. Subtly she shifted them and placed the pattern she wanted – a skull with a snake issuing from the mouth.

"I think it's not good" said Krait dryly. "Morsmorde is no very auspicious sign to turn up in a teacup…."

Madam Marchbanks gave her a quick look.

"You recognise what it is then?" she asked. Krait could have kicked herself.

"The first thing I learned in the Wizarding world was that the Dark Mark had been sent up at the Quidditch world cup" she retrieved herself. "I, being nosy, asked what that meant…"

"Let's move to the palm reading" Madam Marchbanks hurried on.

Krait had not the faintest idea about palmistry.

"Uh…." She said "I guess the best I can do here is that later you're going to wash up…."

Madam Marchbanks gave her a Look.

-/-

Harry and Ron were cheerfully comparing notes about how badly they were going to fail, Madam Spikenard not having arrived in time to instil in them any great love of the subject, let alone knowledge.

"What 'bout you, Krait, mate?" asked Ron, breaking off from explaining how he had described in detail an ugly man with a wart on his nose, only to discover it was the examiner's reflection.

Krait grinned grimly and told them what she had done. Harry gasped.

"That's risky…." He said.

"The Ministry isn't warning people….maybe we ought to" said Krait. "I can claim not to remember my exam at all…in fact I shall."

Indeed when Professor Spikenard asked her rather ironically how it went. Krait put on her best innocent expression and declared

"I – I really couldn't tell you, Professor, it's all a bit of a blurr…"

"Hmmm" said Professor Spikenard. "You walk a dangerous path, young lady….all of your blood do…well, be assured I will keep aware and tell you if I get any feelings you should know about."

"Well!" said Krait as she left. "I could almost believe in her."

"She singled out the first year blood group the first lesson they had" Neville told her "Abrax told me….said they walked a dangerous path and wished them luck."

"Now THAT's a real Divination teacher" Krait approved.

"She was an insurance predictor in her husband's firm before she was widowed" volunteered Neville. "You have to have a better than sixty-per-cent accuracy for that sort of job."

-/-

Krait's final exam was her re-sit of Arithmancy with Hermione; she enjoyed the paper. Hermione frowned a lot and scribbled relentlessly; but that was Hermione. Krait felt confident that she had done well and said so.

Hermione wanted a post mortem as usual; and with a sigh, Krait gave in to her friend. She came to the conclusion quite quickly that either both of them had done quite well or else had lost the plot entirely and said so to Hermione. Hermione groaned.

"We can't have lost the plot….can we?" she said in a small, un-Hermione like voice.

"Nope" said Krait. "Therefore we both did good. You lot have History of Magic left, don't you?"

"Yes and a good chance of a decent mark with Professor Lector in charge" said Hermione briskly. "He has an interesting discursive style, and I like the way he makes us debate things….I'm not too sure about his methods of letting first years re-enact goblin battles, but I suppose if it helps them remember…."

"If I were teaching Abrax, Bil and co I'd want some method of using up their excess energy" chuckled Krait.

-/-

It was during the History of Magic exam that Ginny called on her blood for help.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27 The Department of Mysteries**

Krait came to a quick decision; and blocked the other fifth formers. She, the two adults, the elves and the youngsters could ably bolster Ginny without interrupting the last fifteen minutes of the fifth formers' exam. Sirri she called to her and sent to Dumbledore post haste with a message that Death Eaters could now be found in the Department of Mysteries. Ginny was manfully facing out the horrid apparition of Voldemort in her mirror as her bloodkin drifted into her room in Gryffindor Tower, Abrax letting the Slytherin members in.

"So you CAN'T possess me any more!" Ginny shouted. "I have a part of Tom Riddle in me…you left it behind when you made me learn Parseltongue to open the Chamber of Secrets, 'cos you're careless, like you left some in Potter….much more and there'll be nothing of you but a foul memory and the bad smell of your presence…." She screamed as he cast the cruciatus curse.

The oldest Kin shifted it quickly to themselves, blocking it from the fifth formers and the youngest, including – Krait felt with shock – Lilith and Sirri's baby as they blocked Ginny's fear and defiance; and Ginny fell artistically and lay still.

"Now we will see if you can defy me…" said the Dark Lord.

The others exchanged quick glances; and Krait laid her head against Severus and let her personality flow into Ginny. Vaguely she was aware of her husband picking up her limp body; and she opened Ginny's eyes, telling the little girl to stay out of it.

"Go to the chamber of secrets…you still know how to open it" Voldemort ordered sibilantly. "Hide there until I tell you to come out. Go now!" Krait stared blankly through Ginny's eyes.

"Yes…" she made her whisper "Chamber of secrets…." Ginny rose like a sleepwalker, Krait carefully using occlumency to prevent Voldemort reading anything untoward. As soon as Ginny was upright she let slip the mirror from her grasp and it fell – Krait made sure – face down. She exited from Ginny's mind and smiled at her from the comfort of Severus' arms. She also motioned silence.

The blood group withdrew in time for Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione and Draco to come pelting up the stairs.

"Is she all right?" demanded Harry.

Ginny ran to his arms.

"I did it…I fooled him…oh Harry I was scared but I did it!" she said. Harry hugged her a little embarrassed.

"Best not overdo it" said Krait cryptically to Ginny. She was on her own feet again.

"So now we go to the department of Mysteries?" said Harry.

"No you damn well do not!" said Krait. "The whole point was to get THEM there waiting for you not arriving….Ginny is safe but HE doesn't know that, he thinks she's sealed in the chamber of secrets while you're in your exam….and that he can send you a dream, you should get a vision right about now of her being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. You're supposed to come – by HIS idea. We win by you not. Ok?"

"I guess" said Harry "It just seems a little tame to sit and let others deal with them."

"That's your father talking" said Severus. "Krait must go with Draco to fish Lucius out if he needs it"

"And to destroy the prophecy" said Krait.

"But if only I can touch it…" said Harry.

"Who's touching? I was going to er, obliteeriate and kill nastily the globe with my wand" said Krait in a Convolvumort like voice.

"I could do that while you fish out Lucius" suggested Harry hopefully. "Or maybe not" as he caught sight of Severus' face. "I'm sorry….I guess I feel I should be responsible for doing the prophecy bit somehow."

"You are" said Krait "By surviving until you get to destroy him utterly. Tough luck."

Harry grasped his head at that moment, and the others felt the backwash of searing pain from it.

"Vision coming now…" said Harry. "He's showing me how he has Ginny writhing in agony on the floor by the globes….to think I'd have believed that if we hadn't done this blooding…."

"He has your number" said Hermione. "He knows you like to do the hero bit…."

"And we have HIS" said Krait in satisfaction. "Emote strongly about Ginny, Harry….we want him caught hook, line and sinker…"

-/-

Severus, Draco and Krait apparated directly to the department of mysteries with the aid of Sirri and Beloc in directing them. They hid inside the invisibility cloak to wait developments; and eavesdropped on several Death Eaters grumbling about their own wait. Suddenly several figures came into the room….it appeared to be Harry, Ron and Hermione! Draco gasped.

"Hold hard…feel the blood" murmured Krait.

One of the three was Bloodkin; and that was the one that looked like Ron but felt like Sirius.

"Albus, Sirius and Minerva" murmured Severus. "Clever."

The three moved forward and the conspirators under the invisibility cloak heard a hiss of satisfaction from one of the hidden Death Eaters.

Dumbledore reached towards the globe; and with a quick movement of sleight of hand had a globe of his own in his hand.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

It was one of the Lestrange brothers.

Dumbledore as Harry turned.

"Catch!" he said, and tossed the globe. He turned and shielded his face; and so did the other two. The group under the cloak copied him. There was a bang and a flash. The Death Eaters gasped, and Dumbledore and the others resumed their normal forms.

"Kingsley" said Dumbledore.

Kingsley Shacklebolt stepped out with several other aurors, wands at the ready. The Death Eaters looked around and drew their own wands in a desperate stand.

The battle was joined; and the group under the cloak circled round.

"But where's Potter?" one of the Death Eaters was saying. "The Dark Lord always knows…."

"Not this time, Dolokhov" said Dumbledore. "I intercepted the boy…."

Krait slid out from the cloak and wriggled along on the floor almost as if she were in her snake form. The Globe with Harry's name on was above her; and she lined up her wand.

"Bang" she whispered. The globe exploded in a shower of bright shards and the voice of Sybil Trelawney droned out. "Silencio" she added, muffling the voice.

"BANG?" said Draco, wriggling on his elbows beside her. She shrugged.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time" she said. "We wait until the Death Eaters look like they're losing….then we steal your father."

Draco nodded tensely.

The aurors were speedily winning and several of the Death Eaters were calling 'Master! Help us!"

The tall thin figure of Voldemort appeared.

"Where is Potter?" he demanded.

"Master, he isn't here!" said Lucius. "He was stopped by Dumbledore…"

"What?"

"Quite true, I'm afraid, Tom" said Dumbledore. "He's asleep right now…as you can doubtless check…."

The wild look on Voldemort's face said it all.

Krait rose from behind a shelf and rapped Lucius sharply over the head.

_**ssss**__Get to safety, father __**ssss**_ she hissed. Voldemort looked startled and apparated away. Krait, Draco, Severus and the elves took Lucius to Malfoy Manor.

-/-

Charlotte was there.

"Lucius….Mr Malfoy!" she gasped.

"Just a dent on the head….put him to bed and take care of him" said Krait. They returned swiftly to Hogwarts and Krait went to the communications device.

"What happened?" asked Voldemort. His nostrils were pinched with anger.

"I'm not sure precisely…." Said Krait. "Potter went haring out of his history exam….then he ran slap bang into Dumbledore who took him to his office. I heard Black talking to McGonagall about the Department of Mysteries…I guessed this was what you were planning, but I couldn't find Potter so I figured I should get to you….I headed there straight away, to see if I could get a chance to warn you….I got a bit confused, I was too late to warn the Death Eaters, and I could see they were having the worst of it. When I saw you I thought that the best thing to do was damage limitations, so I shouted to you and hit Lucius over the head…he is my uncle after all and I'd rather he wasn't convicted of being a Death Eater. It would make me suspect and cramp my style."

"You did well under the circumstances…why did you not use the globe?"

Krait stared.

"I didn't think you'd take it to the Ministry with you."

"Foolish girl! I was at home until you first saw me there….I only came in response to the muling cries for help that my servants were giving!"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I assumed you'd be with them, leading them…but of course, it was too much of a risk….I am daft, I didn't think it through, I am sorry….I wanted to do my best…"

"You have not got enough knowledge to make a decision as wisely as you might….under the circumstances you did well" said Voldemort. "I am glad that Lucius is safe, he is another of my hidden assets. It has taken months of planning, only to go wrong!" he banged his fist down. "You are certain Potter was going to come?"

"He sure was in a hurry….I think he was pretty perturbed…it would have worked but for Dumbledore being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Leave me…I am displeased but you have done as well as can be expected." He said coldly and broke the link.

-/-

They all gathered in Dumbledore's office.

"I thought putting Harry into a magical sleep was a nice little refinement" the Headmaster said. "If Tom himself turned up I could then tell him to verify that…and Harry was climbing the walls rather anyway."

"So were we all, sir" said Ginny "But girls do it more decorously."

Dumbledore laughed.

"It was quite a risk you took on Ginny" he said.

"Not really" said Severus coolly. "She is a brave and resourceful girl with a good sense of when to scream for help….our blood protected her. I have the greatest admiration for Miss Weasley."

Ginny looked pleased.

"Besides" said Krait "Doing it this way meant we could send the appropriate authorities instead of Harry haring off as usually happens, and it turned out fine….we didn't have to blow cover….Voldemort thinks I did okay to rescue Lucius and that keeps Lucius under cover from our point of view too."

"If he's telling you the truth" said Professor McGonagall cynically.

"He's telling the truth" said Krait and Draco together.

"He is telling the truth" confirmed Dumbledore. "I spoke to him at length. He has been thinking very hard."

"Weel, you know best, professor" said McGonagall.

"Thank you Minerva" said Dumbledore. "What we now know is that the enemy is frustrated and angry….maybe on the wrong foot, maybe about to make a mistake. But we can't count on it. The best thing, however, is that Cornelius Fudge turned up just in time to see Voldemort before he vanished."

"He'll say it was the cheese he ate last night" said Krait cynically.

"There is more evidence this time…truculent Death Eaters rearrested, the evidence of the eyes of aurors…he has no choice but to accept the return of the dark one…it will be in the Prophet tomorrow with the usual specious rubbish about how to protect your homes that means nothing, and everyone will be remembering that Harry is the boy who lived and forgetting that they've been ridiculing him all year in case he said that Voldemort was still alive where anyone could hear it. Fudge is through; he'll have to resign and he knows it." Said Dumbledore cynically.

Severus sneered.

"The ministry has been the dark lord's best friend….Umbridge and her ilk might as well have well been a Death Eater, they are more concerned about their position and image than about doing their jobs properly….there will never be any real difference until we have a change in the way we are governed….Fudge feared you taking the ministry by force, Albus, and believe me we'd follow you if you chose to do so…." His tone was low and impassioned.

Dumbledore blinked.

"You feel quite strongly about this then, Severus."

"The ministry has always been secretive….supported secrets. Supported the hiding of shame. Stories like Grace's and Romulus' and Bil's who have unhelpful parents to say the least….we have misery in our society as well as in the muggle world but we cannot admit it….everything has to be pretty and the ministry encourages that. We'd have had no support from the law over these miserable children…you and I bullied the parents in each case, but it shouldn't be so, it should be that the children have the protection of the law. That's what leads to discontent with society…I know, I walked that route…"

Dumbledore put a hand on Severus' arm and Krait slipped her arms around him.

"I see" said the Headmaster. "You are right, Severus. Something needs to be done but we have a priority….and you are key to moving forward with that. Lucius has given us more information, however."

"See?" said Draco. Dumbledore smiled at him.

"You've done so well, Draco" said Dumbledore. "I knew you had it in you…Yes, Lucius has certain….books …at his disposal that I do not…I asked him if he had ever heard the word Horcrux. He had not; but he came to me with a document that explained them." He surveyed the group. "I tell you this on the understanding that you reprobates will continue to pass on information rather than leaping in with both feet." He ran his gaze over the blood group.

They looked innocently at him and Dumbledore hid a smile.

"We're not idiots, sir" said Abrax. "Impulsive and adventurous yes, but not idiots."

"Then I daresay I can share the information" said the Head "Because if I tell one, you'll all know anyway before long; and Harry has a need to know, and so do Severus and Krait." He sighed. "A Horcrux is a terrible thing; it is a means of preserving part of your soul – but to do that you must break off a part of your soul by committing deliberate murder."

"That severs the soul?" Krait asked.

"Nobody can kill deliberately and not be damaged by it" said Dumbledore. "The maker of the horcrux however revels in that damage and uses it for his own ends. A Horcrux can be made from any artefact….I have reason to believe that Tom Riddle may have experimented with more than one horcrux. I need to get information from Horace Slughorn, his old potions master, with whom he was a favourite…he has given me an account I believe to be cagey in the extreme and maybe downright mendacious. He says he gave Riddle no information but I don't believe him….he's hiding something."

"He taught me too…." Said Severus softly. "I believe if you give me his address I may just take his favourite's daughter to meet him….."

"I hoped you might" said Dumbledore softly. "And if you don't get anywhere, I suggest that Sirius stands down next year and I persuade Slughorn to return as Potions master to have a chance to teach the great Harry Potter, and Severus takes Defence against the Dark Arts so we have Slughorn close to us to work on."

"Hell of a way to get the job I always wanted" said Severus "Though it beats getting it though anything happening to Padfoot….." he glanced at Sirius and the look was warm; as was the one Sirius gave him in return.

"You're almost wasted as that….any competent wizard can teach Defence against the Dark Arts but only an expert can teach Potions" said Krait. "And this Slughorn doesn't seem as good as you by any means." Severus smiled at her.

"You are partisan, my dear" he said.

"I'm no' sure anything much is served in telling these young ones so much" said McGonagall "When you were aye so adamant Harry must be kept in the dark because he was so young…."

"I believe I made a mistake, there, Minerva" said Dumbledore heavily. "I kept putting it off and putting it off though he faced challenges that would have tried grown men…the events of today had me thinking what might have happened if these young reprobates…and their older reprobates" he smiled at Severus and Sirius "had not worked out what Voldemort was up to…if Harry had not learned occlumency, if he and Severus had been unable to compromise their differences….thinking how Harry would have reacted if he had truly believed that Voldemort was hurting Ginny. These young people are responsible and sensible….they need to know things for their own protection."

"We'd find out anyway" said Krait.

"Yes… I believe you would. And you need to know more than most, so I cannot deny YOU knowledge….next term we shall embark on exploring memories of others to plot the life history of your father to add depth to what little I have told you."

"Why can't we work in the holidays?" Krait asked.

"Because Harry must spend time with the Dursleys" said Dumbledore with an apologetic glance at Harry.

"Doesn't our blood count as an instead?" asked Ginny.

"I don't know…you have done something unprecedented" admitted the Head. "It might…but I am not about to take that risk. He can go to the Burrows once he has been at Privet Drive a week or two….but I want you, Harry, to go to the Dursleys for at least a while."

Harry nodded.

"Knowing it won't be all the time will help, sir" he said.

"Your aunt is scared of Malfoys" said Krait, brightly. "Maybe we can sick Lucius onto her!"

Harry grinned.

"I can't think of nicer people to let him loose at" he grinned.

"And I as his Godfather can visit him openly now" growled Sirius. "They are REALLY afraid of me!"

-/-

As Dumbledore had predicted the Daily Prophet ran a story in which Fudge had admitted in a statement that He-who-must-not-be named had returned. There was the triumphant note that many Death Eaters had been rearrested - "As though it were a ministry coup" said Krait disgustedly – but warnings that the wizarding community must be vigilant. Dumbledore and Harry were extolled and the blood group all made signs of being sick at the tone taken in the paper which was sycophantic and placatory in the extreme.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28 a few loose ends**

Into this atmosphere of pseudo triumph burst another broadcast by Convolvumort.

"I have been bereft again of my dirteaters!" wailed the now well-known high pitched voice "And it is all the fault of my OTHER arch enemy Professor Glumblebum who foiled my plans to lay hands on HAIRY PIMPLE! My servants were attacked by him and Starriest Crack and Professor Miaowa McCatterwaul! I am Dogged by CAT astrophe! And it's NOT FAIR! Where was my minion Tuurd the Troll while this was happening?"

"Uuuh…. I was being fed by the house elf boss" said David in Tuurd's voice "While she was cursing the snake and stirring the house. Cor that was uncomfortable!"

"I am surrounded by incompetents!" cried Convolvumort.

"No you isn't master, they is all back in Azkaban!" squeaked Grace as Leaky.

"I have only ONE recourse on which to fall back" said Convolvumort.

"Well send de elf for more recushions boss" suggested Tuurd.

"Dolt! Idiot! Fool! What kind of moron are you?" demanded Convolvumort.

There was a long silence.

"Uuuuh… how many kinds of moron is dere, boss for me to be?" asked Tuurd.

"AAARG! It is insupportable! There is only one thing I can do…..my loyal listeners I tell you that YOU must be my new dirt eaters and think nothing but EVIL THOUGHTS and you fifth year boys get your hands outside the bedcovers and let NOTHING distract you…. You WILL be my followers and in return I offer you abuse, hard words, mud to kneel in to kiss my feet, lots of nice cuddly pain and a very sore left arm. How can you pass that up?"

It was one of the closest to the knuckle yet; and Lucius, Krait and Severus all had to endure a frothing diatribe from Voldemort over how the Wizarding Wireless would pay when he was back up to strength.

At least he had now accepted that it was probably Dumbledore himself doing it; for surely no-one else would dare, nor know so much.

"What have you told him Severus that he could use?" he demanded.

"My Lord he has not questioned me recently" said Severus "I had to tell him a certain amount before when – when I was pretending to pass information to him; obviously. I think he may have remembered some and guessed more. Remember he hinted at Lucius; but did not accuse him outright, he dares not as he has never been in the open; that at least is a strength for you that he can only be vague over what he does not know."

Draco was glad now of course that he had never outright called his father a dirteater!

Voldemort descended into the sulks; which was at least better than handing out wholesale tastes of the cruciatus curse. He did however adjure Krait NEVER to be in a situation where the headmaster could meet her eyes.

"He is almost as good a legilimens as I" he said "Severus will start to teach you some occlumency as he knows enough to avoid being caught out by Dumbledore."

"Thank you father; that would be well useful" said Krait, who was a skilled enough occlumencer to fool her repellent sire.

As Lucius did not yet know – or even suspect – who Convolvumort was he was quite safely able to deny any knowledge and use his reputation for being slippery by suggesting that it was a bad time to risk coming into the open to attack the Wizarding Wireless. Which Voldemort grudgingly accepted.

-/-

It was almost an anticlimax when David and Erich caught a girl in their year trying to sneak into the Potions Dungeon; the alihotsy affair had filled her with enthusiasm to get her main rivals for whichever boy she fancied embarrassed and in trouble by that same means of hysteria. David had suspected that it had been she who had tried before in the abortive attempt that had led to the burning of Severus and the early labour of Krait; and taxed her with it, gaining a defiant confession. They took the girl, Ambrosine D'eath straight to Professor Dumbledore, totally disgusted with her. As David told her

"It's not the stealing of stuff to play childish pranks that's pissed us off, D'eath, it's that you couldn't manage to own up to it at the time, even though it nearly killed Krait and Professor Snape…you are loathsome."

Dumbledore agreed; and with a heavy heart he expelled the girl. It had been quite a year for expulsions; but, he reflected, at least he had not been forced into one of them being Harry.

-/-

Crabbe and Goyle were subdued in school.

Their respective fathers had been two of the Deatheaters who had been arrested for the first time in the battle of the department of mysteries; and they looked upon Draco with some resentment because his father had got away. Krait was almost sorry for them; but she looked into the eyes of each and saw no hint of compassion or gentleness; and forbore to even try to work on them.

"We'll probably be fighting against them when we come to do it" she said to Draco.

Draco nodded.

"You are probably right" he said, sighing. "It seems wrong, fighting children….why are you laughing?"

"They're your age….and older by far than some of our able little soldiers."

Draco looked mildly surprised.

"Why….so they are!" he said. "So much has happened….I feel years older than the others in our class."

"And that's why Dumbledore is telling us things….because we ARE years older – mentally – than our ages" said Krait, gently. "Is your father….fond of Charlotte?" she asked abruptly.

"He's giving out the fiction that she's his long term mistress and both the children are his and hers" said Draco. "I think she's filling the position of fiction….my mother's going to be furious, it'll dent her pride….though I think she's had lovers….it's going to be an interesting holiday." He added dryly.

"If you can get your mother to the point where she wants any compulsions dealt with…."

He shrugged.

"Mother is a complex being….it comes of being female I suppose."

-/-

Krait saw Harry off on the train; she knew that several members of the Order of the Phoenix were planning on terrorising the Dursleys a little bit when he got to London, so saw him off in good peace of mind. She and Severus were ready to leave when Lucius turned up.

"HE asked me to get you and tell you to restore Bella….he knew Severus would have a potion." He said.

"I see" said Krait. "Yes, he's a little short of death eaters right now….Severus, as you pour the potion on, could I hit her with a memory destroying charm?"

"It's possible….what had you in mind?"

"She'd not be dangerous if she were about three, even a little older…and she could be trainable. If we can steal Narcissa from him as well, it would please Draco, and it would be well not to antagonise her by killing her sister outright….things go wrong."

"Voldemort is there….you will have to be subtle" warned Lucius.

"Thanks….I shall be." She said.

-/-

Bella's statue was brought out; and her sister hovered protectively. Krait stood watching, her mind delicately probing the edges of limited consciousness of the petrified woman. As the potion began to work she acted, wrapping up all memories after the woman's sixth birthday and ripping them away, taking them into herself to best hide her actions.

"Mama? Where's mama?" wailed Bella Black. "Who are all you people? Where's my mamma?" she opened her mouth and howled, real tears running down her face.

"oh dear" said Krait, mildly. Inside she felt deeply for the terrified child that Bellatrix was; but showing compassion would not help any.

Voldemort strode over to the bellowing Bella and forced her to look at him; she sobbed – hardly surprisingly – in real terror.

"Gone!" he said bitterly "All her mind from the age of about six…gone! Daughter, how did you do this?" he wheeled round to glower at Krait.

Krait let her mouth drop open.

"I didn't know that turning her to stone would do that!" she said. "I never heard of such a thing….all the people who were petrified by Salazar's pet were in their right minds again….if you can ever use that adjective for Hermione Granger….weren't they Severus?"

"They were. And this is from that same stock of mandragora" said Severus blandly meeting Voldemort's eye, and telling him the absolute truth.

Voldemort's eyes glittered in anger and he turned to unleash a cruciatus curse on Krait. She fell to the ground, and he released it almost immediately.

"It was bad luck not bad planning" he said "But it was still your fault, daughter. We have received a serious setback…..I will need to think." He disapparated away.

"Bella" sobbed Narcissa "What am I to do for my sister, you awful girl?" she had her arms around Bella; who, not recognising the sister who had only been an infant at this stage of her memory, wept harder. Krait came over and cupped Bella's face gently in her hands.

"Listen, sweeting, you've not been very well" she said "But you're going to live here from now on…Lucius and Narcissa - and Charlotte I guess – are going to look after you, and take care of you…they'll do their best to make you happy."

Bella clung to her.

Narcissa watched with a degree of respect at Krait's handling of Bella, though she stiffened at the mention of Charlotte.

"Where's my mama?" wailed Bella.

"I'm afraid mama had to go away….Narcissa will be like a mama for you, you've forgotten but she's your great big grown up sister…she's married to Lucius, he'll be a kind daddy for you."

Severus said

"There are reducing potions….if one were made permanent….to a degree….she could have her form reduced to her mental age….and grow up in your nursery, Lucius?"

Lucius nodded.

"An excellent idea….I have a natural son and daughter a year or so each side of her current age…..Cissy, it'll be all right…..at least she's still alive."

Narcissa gave him an uncertain and rather sullen look and he patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. Krait disentangled Bella's arms and placed her hand in Narcissa's.

"It'll be all right now" she whispered. "Cissy will help you to be well and happy…won't you?"

Narcissa scowled.

"It's your fault she's like this."

"But she has a chance to be happy….was she really, before? Don't frighten her, Narcissa, she's just a little girl, whatever her body looks like."

Narcissa sniffed; but took her sister's hand tenderly enough.

-/-

Krait managed to have private words later with Lucius and Severus.

"I've glanced into her memories….I'll store them for viewing by Pensieve…but what he did to her at school beggars belief" she said white faced. "He ….he tied pain and sex together for her, and….well, it's too revolting to talk about really" she was white. "I'd rather get it to Pensieve where it's at least secondhand…."

"Let's get you back to Hogwarts, my dear" said Severus gently, putting an arm about her. "I've a potion to brew for Bella….and you can shed those thoughts."

Lucius stared.

"Severus, are you sleeping with my niece?"

"Lucius, I'm sleeping with my wife" Severus looked down his nose. "No, HE doesn't know we're married…. But he did sanction me….schooling…..her."

"Scum!" said Lucius.

"I trust that refers to my father not my husband" said Krait, coldly.

"Of course….if you didn't want Severus I make no doubt you'd have poisoned him." Said Lucius.

"Hardly. He'd know the antidote. I'd have done something else terminal" said Krait.

"Merlin's beard, you're a true Malfoy" said Lucius proudly.

**The end – for now. Part 3 coming soon; look out for 'The Endless Riddle' unless you're bored by now in which case have a good day anyway. give me a few days, all right? I got talked into writing something for Jane Austen's 'Emma' and it's rather absorbing research.  
**


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